Inuyasha - Downward Spiral
by KimbleLinah
Summary: Kagome is dead, Inuyasha intends to abandon his human ties. What can stop him? Inuyasha is not the main focus of my story but he is integral. I feel like for the time being his story has been told & new plots need to be brought in. Pls leave comments
1. Chapter 1

Fanfic based off the Inuyasha storyline, I don't own the rights etc. Just a fan who didn't like the original's ending.

Setting 1 year after Kagome moves to Inuyasha's era.

Kagome was dead, to Inuyasha that was all that mattered. It wasn't a heroic death, there wasn't any greater meaning to it, she hadn't died battling the undead, she didn't die to save anyone, she was just dead. The loss of her passing was still affecting Inuyasha every day, every hour and every minute. Inuyasha spent hours at a time hauled up in their tree just outside the village, he would work through the last few months in his head. He would try to determine what went wrong and when, he could lose hours at a time doing this. Sometimes Inuyasha would play out different scenarios, he would make believe they were still happy and living a normal life. He would lose himself inside these dreams, something would eventually bring him back to reality and when this happened he would lose Kagome all over again. He would hold his breath while he was coming back to reality, he would close his eyes whilst coming back to the here and now. The pain felt so real like a sharp shock to all of the senses all at once, like being dragged into cold water. None of the dreams were real, he couldn't change what had happened no matter how hard he wished for it to change.

Inuyasha's friends grew worried about him, he was spending longer and longer inside his dream world that he'd created, this world that was still moving and felt warm. Kaede was aging now, and she was growing more and more worried about leaving this world and abandoning Inuyasha. She was also concerned about leaving this world and leaving the world alone to face Inuasha's grief. Sometimes when the grief is so strong it changes you to the core, almost down to the person's biological make up. This is what Kaede worried about, they had been close to losing Inuyasha to his demon form once in the past – it couldn't happen again.

Inuyasha, stalked round the village. He was glaring at everything and everyone he saw. "Look at them, flaunting their happiness. Don't they care that my world has frozen, don't they care that she's gone." The words were almost a hiss inside his head. He continued to look at his surroundings, memories flooding his senses. He was surrounded by humans, frail and prone to sickness. All of these people around him would die, grow old, and develop a sickness. He started looking at the humans, a couple standing outside their home, she was pregnant. Her partner was so happy, the happiness was reaching their eyes, all Inuyasha could see was the frailty of the human form. She has a chance of dying from child birth. There is nothing her partner would be able to do about it. Nothing anyone here and now can do to help. Perhaps in Kagome's era the doctors would be able to save the woman. Someone in Kagome's era would have been able to save her. She was in Inuyasha's era. She was human. Was it Inuyasha's fault she died. Inuyasha mulled these words over and over, "she was human, she died because she was human." Inuyasha looked at that same couple expecting their first baby and he resented their happiness, he resented the fact they would die within years of each other. Of course, they're both human not like a demon and a human. "The demon lives on while the human leaves this world selfishly and expects the demon to do what exactly ? Live, be happy ? for how long ? …She left me. If she had stayed in that world she would have lived. But she came here." Inuyasha was slowly coming to a conclusion, he needed to leave, he couldn't live near humans, only to watch them all leave him all over again. He made his way to Kaede's hut, he owed her a goodbye.

Kaede was sitting cross legged next to her small lit fire, Inuyasha looked at her and he really saw her. He looked at the old woman sitting infront of him, her hair was growing thinner, she was hunched over more now, she was using a walking stick to aid her now. Her aging offended Inuyasha, he scoffed as he looked at her he thought about the fact that she would soon leave his side now too. He had to leave, somehow it would hurt less if he broke away first.

They could both hear Miroku and Sango's children outside the hut, they seemed to playing a game of chase, happy sounds filled the silence in the air. Kaede eventually took in a deep breath and looked Inuyasha in the eyes, he glanced away, slowly she said "Leave after the meal they have prepared, if you must leave then do it quietly after the meal. Put on a fake smile, be strong and allow them one last memory of you smiling at a family dinner." Inuyasha folded his arms, he didn't say a word, simply nodding in defeat. "We all hurt Inuyasha, we all feel that pain that makes our skin ache. I can-not take this pain from you, no one can nothing can change your heart in a short space of time but I can only offer this advice. Grief never gets lighter, it never goes away but as time passes you adept to carrying the heavy load and after some time you'll notice you've learnt how to smile again. You will find ways of filling that hole that's been left."

With those words Inuyasha got up and left, he couldn't think about the future he needed to deal with the now. The night sky was clear, the air was warm, in the air was the aroma of the dinner being prepared, Inuyasha's stomach gurgled. He'd neglected his health in the past few days, not eating when he should have. He hadn't even noticed he wasn't at full strength, although it smelt great the food wasn't ready yet, and he didn't want to hang around for more awkward conversations of people pointing out how much he needed to move on. He walked to Kagome's grave, it was a small clearing next to the well, a small grave. She was only small, how many times had Inuyasha carried her on his back with ease, small so small. He muttered a few small words of love, it quickly turned to anger, he was so angry at her humanity. "you survived being here for so long, I protected you against Naraku, I protected you against hoards of demons…but you got sick, what was I supposed to do, how was I supposed to help you. You should have been in your world, you would still be alive !" His eyes teared up, tears streamed down his face, down his cheeks which felt like they were on fire, his lips trembled, his fists clenched by his sides, nails pushing into the palms of his hands – there were small trickles of blood, he bit his teeth together he didn't want any more words to come out of his mouth, he would regret them. And with that he'd made his decision, he had to go now, he needed to be away from this place. He stood and turned to leave, but he could feel something strange in the air, not demonic aura but something he hadn't felt before. He wanted to go, he took another step to leave he glanced back at the village he wanted to be selfish but he could hear Sango and Miroku's children laughing and playing happily. The well had lit up, the air around it crackled with energy, pure unbridled white light. Inuyasha covered his eyes, he should have kept them open. Inuyasha was thrown back by a pulse of energy. He could feel the light on his skin it was hot and yet cold at the same time.

He opened his eyes and saw cowered in against the well a young woman.


	2. Who Am I

Who Am I?

Miroku and Sango came running, weapons in hand they were prepared to protect their home from what-ever had caused this light. They formed a semi-circle around this young woman, who had backed herself up against the well. They all looked at her, she looked like a frightened animal, she was mid 20's in age, long chestnut brown hair, odd eyes one blue the other green, slightly shorter than Inuyasha and she had the curves you could expect from someone in their early 20's. She looked petrified, her clothes were torn, she was out of breath from panic, her eyes darted from Sango to Miroku lastly to Inuyasha. Her eyes started at Inuyasha's ears, stopped on his face, looked at his clothing she then looked at Miroku's clothing and lastly to Sangos, she then looked back at Inuyasha and stopped on his claws. Everyone was thinking the same thing, "who was this girl."

Kaede approached slowly, she knelt down infront of the nameless girl, "We mean you no harm, please tell us who you are." Inuyasha looked at her, he knew what he was looking for. He wanted to know if the girl sat infront of them was a reincarnation of Kagome or if Kagome had found a way back to him in another body. They had both appeared wearing modern clothing, could she be? Inuyasha reached out to touch her arm, she flinched smacked his arm away and she tried to stand, she stumbled and the colour drained from her face. Inuyasha reached out to catch her, it seems his commitment to helping people hadn't vanished quite yet. He caught her seconds before she hit the floor, she was a crumpled mess. Inuyasha studied her face. She didn't look like Kikyo or Kagome, nothing about her felt familiar but something about her made him feel calm, he continued to study her. The clothes were burnt at the edges, her skin had soot marks on it, how did she get here without the Shikon Jewel he pondered. Her eyes glanced at Inuyasha's eyes before closing, she managed to say "I don't belong here." And then she was unconscious. She wasn't Kagome Inuyasha told himself, this wasn't his mess and he needed to leave still. Sango heaved a sigh of relief as she relaxed, she turned to leave and looked at Inuyasha "bring her to Kaede's, it looks like the evening just got interesting."

Inuyasha let out an inward sigh, he would leave in the morning he thought to himself, he picked the woman up, her skin was hot to the touch. They all travelled to Kaede's hut, Sango and Kaede banished the men from the hut while they began undressing the woman, her clothes were in such a state they needed to be changed, it was at that moment that Sango had noticed some bruising on the woman's upper arm she lifted the remains of the sleeve to investigate and that was when the woman's eyes shot open. She batted Sango's hands away from her skin, and once again reacted like an injured animal questions shooting out of her mouth, who what where why ?

The woman held the sides of her head, fingers pulling at her hair, her eyes squinted shut, she looked like she was in pain. Images were shooting into her brain, conversations flowing fast and she was left with some of her questions being answered, she knew how she had come to be here but she didn't understand the mechanics of how was she here, but she could now remember who she was. She looked at Kaede, apologetic "My name is Kiimi"

Sango, offended that her helping hand had been pushed away had forgotten the bruising she had seen, she took a step back. Kiimi noticing she had offended one of her rescuer leant forward "I'm not very good at people touching me I'm so sorry, please don't go." Sango looked at her, she was young and lost, in an era that isn't her own she could feel her rejection passing "it must be my maternal instincts kicking in" she thought to herself. A refreshing warm soak may help ease everyone, there was a hot spring not too far from the village, Kaede could sense no demonic aura and had determined this young woman was no immediate threat to her people.

Kiimi, followed the old woman and sango to the hot spring. She was reluctant but was being polite, she needed these people to be on her side in this strange world. Sango and Kaede undressed and got in the warm water, Kiimi's reluctance was so obvious it could have been seen from another country. "I'm sorry I've never been undressed infront of anyone" this was a lie, but she desperately didn't want to get in that water. She didn't want them to see her, she didn't want them to see what was underneath her clothes. She could barely stand looking at her body, let alone someone she didn't know. She clutched at the remains of her clothes and ran away, in her head she was cringing "what a wimp, they're gonna think I'm rude and weird, hell I fell out of a well of course I'm weird." Kiimi ran back to the well, willing it to open for her "Come on ! Open you piece of shit ! Why aren't you working !" she punched and she kicked but nothing happened. Inuyasha crept out from behind the trees, he looked at her inquisitively, his arms folded, he had a lot of questions mostly he was still trying to rule out if this woman could be some part of Kogame. He knew she wasn't but there was a small remnant of hope, the weight of grief that Kaede mention was still too heavy to hold. Kiimi eventually broke the silence "Please,.." she glanced at his claws, she could only see weapons. Inuyasha realising the threat she was seeing he began to sit down, cross legged and closed his eyes. "I lost someone, and I was hoping you had a connection to her somehow, I was very much in love with her. She, like you came through the well from a different era…except her travel through time was less…." Inuyasha pointed at the mess of a woman infront of him "messy looking." She laughed, she could see the pain in his eyes, that tired look that can only come from losing someone they love. It wasn't an emotion she knew of but she'd read of it and could certainly recognise it in this person sat infront of her. She sat down, pulled her knees up infront of her face and wrapped her arms around them, she rested her chin on her knees. "I'm not her, I'm sorry."

"How did you come to come through the well? Are Kagome's family not living on the other side anymore?" he asked, "My uncle bought the place, he mentioned that an old man woman and child had lived there but once the old man had died the woman and child no longer saw any point in staying there. So my uncle moved us there". Inuyasha flinched at hearing that, it was another tie to Kagome that was gone, somehow knowing they were walking in same footsteps on the other side of the well settled him. They were gone now, he hadn't even told them Kagome was dead. He couldn't pass through the well anymore. Which reminds him, without the Shikon Jewel how was this woman able to pass through, Kogame had been Kikyo's reincarnation and was born with the jewel inside her but this woman had none of that. The temperature was starting to drop, Inuyasha noticed Kiimi was still wearing her ruined clothes, he reached out to her and her relaxed demeanour vanished and once again she flinched away from his touch instantly she began apologising. Was he so repulsive? She'd sat and listened to him explaining the demon ways and his lineage, she'd been so relaxed so content just talking but the mere comforting touch sends her running, he didn't understand.

The well wasn't reacting to her, she couldn't return home. Did she actually want to go home, back to him. He was the only family she had, she couldn't hate him for what he'd done, they were blood related, if he liked it or not they were related. She ached, her skin hurt, her muscles hurt breathing in hurt, did she have a broken rib? She hoped not, but bruises yes there were definitely bruises, she didn't want anyone to see them, what would they think? How was she able to pass through, why was she sent to this specific time, why here, why now she kept asking her-self that but she had no answers but for now she was stuck in a world with demons. At least one of the demons seemed to be friendly, sarcastic but friendly. She walked back into the village, she had just remembered she'd run out away from the hot spring, she had no-where to go, no-where to be. Kaede opened her door, smiling. How much patience did this old woman have, why was she smiling. "Go bathe, soak, let some of your worries soak away. You can't return home I'm guessing, it's not an issue for tonight at least. You will rest here with me. It will be nice to have some company again." Kiimi nodded silently, and thankful. Kiimi followed the pathway to the hot springs, the air was cooling down now but the springs were nice and hot. She undressed and left her ruined clothes by the side of the water. She sat, knees brought up to her face again, she let the warm water wash over her beaten body. She didn't blame him, she didn't hate him, what was going to happen when and if she could get herself back home. She was trying to formulate some sort of a plan in her head but she still had so many questions that were unanswered.

Kaede called out to Inuyasha, "please take these to Kiimi, she's at the hot springs." She'd given him some of Kikyo's clothes, those damn red trousers of the Priestess. Kikyo was older than Kagome was so the clothes should fit better than they did for Kagome. Did she have to wear them, perhaps the clothes were the curse. Was Inuyasha just being selfish? Did he only want the women he'd been in love with to wear these clothes, he didn't even know this weird woman. So many thoughts went through his head in a matter of seconds, Kaede looked at Inuyasha "would you have her walk around naked infront of Miruko" Inuyasha laughed gently and pictured Miruko being smacked by many women at once. He walked to the hot springs, he walked out from the trees and saw Kiimi, he saw her back. She was covered in bruises, you could see a shoe print where her ribs were, you could see hand marks on her arms. All of a sudden Inuyasha had a flash back of her flinching away from him. It wasn't him she was flinching away from but she was hurt. His heart felt sadness for her. He stepped on a twig, his cover was blown and Kiimi was dragged out of her thoughts and turned her head round seeing Inuyasha standing there holding the clothes blushing bright red. "Kaede gave you clothes, I'm um I didn't see anything"

What was Inuyasha more embarrassed about seeing, the broken body or a naked woman. He turned his back so kiimi could walk out of the water and get dressed. "There are demons lurking out here, you need to be more careful. I'll walk you back" Inuyasha glanced one eye to her getting dressed, he looked at her spine – countless bruises, that shoe print where her ribs were worried him. She clearly didn't fight, if she did the bruises she had would elsewhere on the body. He looked at her one last time before setting off, those bruises were defensive bruises, he imagined she was on the floor in the foetal position, her arms up to protect her face, knees brought up to protect her front. He extended his arm, purposely not putting his hand on her but herding her closer to him, infront of him. She was wearing Kikyo's clothing, they fit her well. They talked a bit on the journey back both relaxing a bit more, she knew he'd seen the bruising and was being respectful by not asking questions.


	3. Defend What Counts

They stayed at Kaede's hut, there were some small embers still coming from the fire. Enough to keep them both warm. They were still chatting, laughing every now n then, she was laughing at his dog ears. Inuyasha aghast "They're just normal ears you know! at least my eyes match colour" she touched her face and remembered her mismatched eyes.

Inuyasha paused "who hurt you", pointing at her back, "shit" she thought, hoping he wouldn't ask. She wasn't one for lying, she was no good at it but the truth sounded awful and made her sound like an idiot. "my uncle, he doesn't mean to do it though he just gets emotional sometimes and I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time." This only increased the questions Inuyasha had for her, he had no uncles to speak of so he had little to compare to but what she said didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. "please, can we sleep it's been a long day and tomorrow I need to figure out how to get back to my era" Kiimi asked, with a pleading tone. Inuyasha nodded he leaned against the wall of the hut waiting for her to fall asleep, it didn't take very long, the journey through the well obviously was more draining than he had experienced with Kagome. He got up and walked outside, knowing Kaede was out there most likely listening in "sneaky old woman" he muttered to himself. "Are you still planning on leaving tomorrow Inuyasha" she asked, "I think I will stay and teach her how to protect herself" inuyasha replied. Kaede smiled, she could see his grief becoming lighter, even if just a little bit.

The sun rose and Kiimi opened her eyes, her bruises were healing, it no longer hurt to move. She yawned and felt disgusting "oh my god!" morning breath she thought! she looked over at Kaede's stash or herbs "there must be mint in here somewhere" and there was, she had a chew on some mint which helped…slightly. She made her way out of the hut, feeling good she felt much better. Inuyasha came bounding towards her with a bow and arrow, oh god what was he up to she thought to herself. He had decided to teach her how to protect her-self, she shook her head "I don't need to protect myself Inuyasha, I certainly don't need to protect myself like this?!"Inuyasha disagreed, with his hands on his hips and pointing and jabbing at her he said loudly "you need to protect yourself so that when you figure out how to get home it's not my job to worry about you". They both blushed, and she grabbed at his red sleeve and they walked "I can't kill my uncle, even if I wanted to I can't. It's not how we deal with things in my era. We don't just kill someone we don't get on with!"

Inuyasha crossed his arms and huffed "well we'll have to do some hand to hand defence then. I'll teach you how to protect yourself against a punch". Kiimi huffed, she really didn't want to get into this, she'd put up with her uncle her entire life she could carry on a bit longer "I don't need it." Inuyasha getting annoyed and higher pitched in his voice "and I say you do" he didn't mean to be cruel but he needed to get his point across so he jabbed her in the ribs, only with enough force to get his point across. It sent Kiimi to the floor, and for a split second her eyes both flashed blue. Did he imagine it? Was the light shining on them, perhaps it was the sleep deprivation but he was sure they flashed blue almost white blue. Must have been a trick on the mind.

Kiimi was holding her side, cursing under her breath, she got herself back up mumbling more obscenities. Luckily a lot of the words she was using were modern and he had no idea of the names she was calling him. "I need food first before anything happens, I also need to apologise to Sango….again" Kiimi looked embarrassed. She walked back to the village, found Miroku and Sango easily by the sound of happily playing children. Sango looked shocked at her first glance, taking in the Priestess attire, she then acknowledged that she wasn't looking at Kikyo or Kagome. Kiimi apologised for her behaviour, Sango backed down very quickly, too quickly….what had Kaede said while she had been sleeping.

Fed and watered a deal was a deal, Kiimi sought out Inuyasha she caught up with him as he was walking up towards a lone tree. Running up behind him she slugged him on the arm and carried on running past him towards the woodlands, Inuyasha laughed and then realised she wasn't stopping. If she continued to run that way there was a likely chance she would run into a hostile demon. He started to chase after her, of course he caught her easily.

They practiced throwing punches and reacting to punches being thrown, they stopped for a break and he wanted to know more about her life, he hated that he was caring. "Why did your uncle hurt you, there's no excuse for it is there?" he asked Kiimi, "He doesn't mean to do it, I killed my mother."


	4. The Truth in The Lie

The Truth in the Lie

Inuyasha looked at her, he saw no evil in her, no murderous intents, she had to be lying but why would someone lie about that. "When I was born, doctors say I killed her. My uncle has never forgiven me for taking his sister's life. He told me that he didn't ever want me to be born, he was against the pregnancy from day one. But when I killed my mother I became his burden. Raising a child you hate to look at, you hate to see because you remind them of someone else. He drinks a lot and then he sees me and his emotions take over I guess. We'd gotten into an argument that day, and he didn't mean to do it but he pushed me into the well and I thought I was dead, it's such a deep well I thought for sure I would have a broken neck! But then I opened my eyes and I was here.." Inuyasha was intently listening, not asking questions just listening. "I woke up here and for a while I couldn't remember anything, like my memories had become broken apart into tiny pieces and I didn't know what order to put them together, all I knew was I didn't belong here. Coming through the well hurt though, it felt like my body was being torn apart and put back together over and over again, I couldn't hear anything through all the noise. Voices screaming at me but there were so many voices in anguish I couldn't make any one voice out and then I woke up here. … I don't know how to get home but I know the longer I'm away the angrier my uncle will be." Inuyasha couldn't fathom the idea of trying to please an abusive uncle, she was surely fighting a losing battle and more importantly one that you wouldn't want to stick around to win. They talked some more about their lives, and walked back.

It was a friendship that Inuyasha wasn't looking for, infact he didn't want the friendship at all but whether he liked it or not it was happening to him. As they walked Kiimi smiled "I've not told anyone about my life at home with my uncle. I feel like a burden has been lifted, like it's easier to carry with someone else knowing", she continued to walk ahead, Inuyasha stopping in his footsteps. She was right, he'd talked at great length about his grief over Kagome, perhaps this particular friendship is something he needed to lighten his burden, perhaps this is how he'd adapt as Kaede had mentioned. He smiled and nodded to himself, "Damn that old woman, she had to be right eh."

They came past the well, she could feel it in the air. There was energy hissing through the air, crackling and coming alive. The well had woken up, Inuyasha nodded towards her and she knew this was her time. She braced herself for the same horrors of passing through, hopeful it would be as simple and jumping in and hoping for the best. The same pains passed through her, she covered her ears and her eyes and repeatedly told her self she would be back home in her own time and that she could tell herself that everything had been a dream. That's what she would make herself believe. After what felt like hours of torture she opened her eyes and she was inside the well, there was ivy growing inside of it, moss growing inside of it and more than anything it was dry. She was back home, she hauled herself out of the well, there was no welcome committee waiting for her, no family happy to see her back. It was late evening now, it was actually hours spent in the passage between era's not moments, she'd lost hours. Exhausted she walked towards the house, her uncle stood in the living room with his back to her. He was a big man, impressive in stature, he held himself with an impressive posture, his muscles were obvious.

He laughed manically "it's finally triggered then has it. I knew sooner or later it had to trigger." He marched up to her, she had no idea what he was on about, he grabbed her by the throat she was impressed how his one hand almost wrapped itself round her throat, he pulled her into the light of the lamp, he was searching for something but she didn't know what. He kept looking at her eyes, what was he looking for. He obviously knew she'd disappeared out of the well but he didn't seem shocked by it. She could tell he'd been on the whiskey by the smell of his breath, it turned her stomach, that dirty stagnant stench. He threw her to the floor like she was a piece of rubbish he wanted to discard, "My sister's sacrifice, this is the result of what she gave her life up for. You. Disappoint. Me" he hissed out the words, unintentionally spitting his hatred out. He lashed out at her, kicked her as he walked past her, Kiimi knew there wouldn't be a warm welcome but this is worse than she could have ever imagined and she was starting to think she was missing some details. He picked up a file full of medical notes off the side board throwing the papers across the room, "you were meant to be more! You were designed to be amazing! You're nothing but a failure, you only just passed through the gate! ONLY JUST ! And this is the mess that makes it through! You were a mistake all along."

"I was designed? I'm a failed what exactly? He knew about the gate?" questions Kiimi had, but didn't have the braveness to speak outloud, whilst laying on the floor she glanced at some of the papers she couldn't make much of it out through the tears in her eyes but some parts were clear. Photos of her mother labelled Experiment A, Specimen A next to a photo of a man with white blue eyes, he had an blank expression on his face – no joy and no fear just empty.

Designed. .

Kiimi had no idea what was going on, she just lay there she could hear her heart beating in her ears. Her uncle scooped up the paper work and walked past her without saying another word. He marched upstairs where he locked himself in his study, Kiimi stood up limping and hauling herself up using the banister to steady herself, she followed him to the room and listened outside of the study door, she could hear him feverishly scribbling, then she heard him making a phone call. She couldn't make all of it out, by now she had tears streaming down her face, she hadn't even noticed her lip was bleeding she had the taste of iron in her mouth but she ignored it. He must have glanced her face when he kicked her. How many blows had she actually endured this evening. She'd pretended it wasn't happening like she always did.

She pressed her ear to the door she could just about hear some of what was being said "No Sir, no….Yes the passageway opened for her twice she's back now, I had to force her into the well for it to trigger…. No, it closed straight after she went through, Yes she's returned, no her eyes are still the same colour. No she's showing no other signs of change. I believe it to have failed Sir, terminate the project, yes. Dispose of the mistake, it shouldn't be an issue as she's just a failed experiment, yes – my pleasure sir" She could tell he was smiling when he said 'Pleasure.'

Panic set in, was he actually planning on killing her, this was all a dream she was going to wake up from. Being in Feudal Japan, a dream surely, her uncle being a vile man- that had to be a dream, her own blood trying to kill her-ludicrous surely. He opened the door, the resolve was set in his face, this was no dream, he actually meant to kill her. Years of hatred was etched into the creases on his face, the reason his sister had died marked his face all over. He took a swing at her, she blocked his punch. She deflected it with her arm, which still stung, he was a big man, Inuyasha never told her it would hurt. She was really crying now, begging him to stop hurting her. She had no idea what to do or where to go. She ran out of the house, tripping and falling as she ran.

Kikyo's clothing was a nightmare to make your grand escape in, no wonder she was dead she probably tripped over the clothes she thought. He was chasing her still, he had a gun, where the hell did he get the gun. She felt one bullet break the skin on her arm, she felt the hot blood trickling down her arm but she couldn't think about that now not while she was still alive. She was in the courtyard now, not knowing where to run towards, she did all she could think of, it was a last hope but she ran towards the well, she begged the well to open for her and then she could feel that energy come alive in the air, "yes" she thought. Wounded she ran for the well, she could hear him coming for her. He wasn't firing off bullets like you see in the films, he was aiming for her. She stopped infront of the well, bracing herself for passing through it again and then she felt it. White hot pain, he'd shot her in the shoulder, she fell forward straight head first down into the well. She didn't know what pain to try to block out first, the pain of her body being torn in different directions, the pain of her shoulder, or trying to block out the screams of anguish, "one of those screams are mine" she thought. She almost didn't recognise her own scream, it was high pitched, frantic and more than anything it was the scream of a woman who was frightened. Then there was nothing, just darkness, she was close to giving up alone in the darkness.


	5. Catalyst

Catalyst

Inuyasha was sitting with Miroku enjoying a sake, when he lifted his head. He could sense the energy in the air, Miroku seemed aware of it too but he wasn't aware of the stench of blood that filled Inuyasha's senses. Inuyasha dropped his sake and ran, he knew where to look. He didn't need to question anything other than that. He looked down the well and Kiimi was slumped in a pool of her own blood, barely conscious, beaten and had old tears staining her face.

Miroku followed shortly behind and they heaved the young woman out of the well, Inuyasha brushed the hair off her face, it was a pointless act. The blood had mixed with the hair and it was just an awful state. Her eyes were closing, a flash of bright white appeared in them. This time both Inuyasha and Miroku saw it, it couldn't be ignored now. What did it mean? Was she a demon ? Inuyasha didn't want to believe she could have been a demon, but what difference would it make. Their past few years of travels have proven that demons can also be good as well as bad, just like humans can be good and bad. He wasn't going to get any answers tonight.

They carried her back to the village. Inuyasha was present while Kaede undressed Kiimi and started to prioritise her injuries. Kaede worked fast, not looking at Inuyasha she says "I think you've grown up quite a lot in the last 2 years Inuyasha. That sarcastic tongue of yours is quieter these days."

They had to deal with the hole in the shoulder first, she was losing blood fast, Inuyasha poked his finger inside the bullet wound, he could feel the bullet, he pried it closer using his claw, eventually it came out and they stitched up the wound, they bound and cleaned the rest of her body. She looked so damaged almost beyond repair, if her breathing wasn't visible Inuyasha would assume she was dead from a battle. One thing was for sure, she'd have some new bruises in the morning.

Morning came and Kiimi opened her eyes, the passage allowed her through the well. Had she opened the passage? Or had it opened by coincidence and she was lucky enough to fall through, she didn't know. She touched her hand to the point the bullet went in, her uncle had shot her. She was not only upset at the fact she'd been shot but she'd been shot by her family. Her only family. Her feelings were hurt, she'd always known that her uncle wasn't exactly keen on her but to shoot her was taking it up another level. Memories were coming back to her, she gripped the side of her head and winced in pain. Images flooding her brain, the sound of the gun going off was piercing her ears. She was going to be more considerate to her computer in the future next time she asks it to download a video. This must be what it feels like to download information.

The events of that evening were downloading to her brain, fast and painful unrelenting details and emotion relived.

Inuyasha entered the hut , he sat by her side and offered her a hot drink. After a long silence "Are you a demon" he asks quietly, she shook her head disbelieving what he's actually asking her. "No I'm not, should I be? Why on earth would I be a demon, I'm clearly a human". Miroku entered the tent and sits with them, he lays his staff to the floor and lays his hands on his lap "I do not believe you are merely a human, but I do not know what you are" he remarks. Images from the night before, those brutal images come back to Kiimi's mind, she says quietly "Failed experiment…that's what my uncle said to me before he tried to "terminate" me." The group were silent for a short while, Miroku spoke up first "you have something other than human in you. Whether or not you're failed experiment as you say is not up to me but perhaps it is best if you stay here for a while and we can watch over you." They all nod in agreement.

The seasons were changing fast, it was growing colder outside, Kiimi needed something warmer to wear than Kikyo's clothing, she needed a fur garment. This meant going out hunting, luckily she knew a handy demon who was getting bored with not doing anything useful. Inuyasha was mocking Kiimi for her failed attempts at archery, boasting his fantastic hunting skills.. however they had still not landed themselves a carcass to take back and skin. It was almost as if Inuyasha was failing at the hunt to prolong the excursion. They went further into the forest, Inuyasha could feel the demonic aura coming closer, and Kiimi had moved out of his sight. "When is she going to learn that things are different here!"

"Dammit" he thought, he couldn't sense her, her smell was being over shadowed by the stench of the demon drawing closer. His skills were rusty, he had underestimated how tame he had become. He was once again reminded of how frail humans were, it was rubbing off on him. He searched for Kiimi, she was going to die and it would be his fault. He was going to lose someone else, and he would be to blame. The villages would look at him and cast aspersions "That's the demon he gets women killed". He ran, he drew his sword the Tessaiga and ran towards the aura, he was having flash backs of Kagome dying and feeling useless to do anything about it. He hoped he would not find Kiimi there, he wanted to get rid of the demon. He saw her, he let out a small laugh, "Silly woman", she had her fists up infront of her face just like Inuyasha had showed her. This was the first time she'd come into contact with a hostile demon. He ran to her side, the demon didn't even seem interested in him, all the demon saw was Kiimi. Kiimi shrank back from the battle, knowing she was going to be in the way, she stood behind Inuyasha.

The demon was vulgar to look at, this lower class demon had the gall to stand before Inuyasha, it reached up at least 4 metres tall, black ooze seeping from its skin, ragged teeth with rotting flesh between them, pitch black eyes, it might have once had the body of a human but it had been distorted through years of killing only to match it's dark soul. For something so big and cumbersome it moved with an alarming speed, Inuyasha looked over his shoulder and shouted to Kiimi "Run! It wants you! Just get to the village now! I'll finish him here!" Kiimi started to run, but tripped on the bottom of the Priestess trousers, again. She struggled to stand up now through her panic she was making poor decisions she looked past Inuyasha and saw the hideous demon rushing towards her. The demon's mouth hang slack, open. It looked at her like it wanted to eat her, like it hadn't eaten for years and was saving it-self just for Kiimi. It pushed Inuyasha aside with ease, it almost flew through the air at Kiimi, grabbing her and taking her with it through the air. Through the air they both travelled, she was in its grip unable to move. She saw it looking at her and then it clamped it's teeth down on her skin, the shoulder, why did it have to be the shoulder again. Those teeth that had rotting flesh between them had broken through her skin, she could barely sense what was happening to her. They made contact with a large tree, her back against the tree she could feel herself draining in energy. She closed her eyes, except when she opened them something had changed. Inuyasha got himself back up and ran towards Kiimi, he was going to be too late, he could smell her blood in the air that sickly sweet smell he knew was her blood, he'd become a tame half demon that was no good to anyone. He reached Kiimi and the demon, he almost dropped his weapon when he saw what was happening infront of him. Kiimi's eyes were white, her skin had paled, she placed her hands inside the Demon's oozing body through his defences and she just kept going. She had gripped it's foul heart, beating in her hand and then she smiled. It was more akin to baring her teeth than a smile, she put her hand around the heart, squeezed and pulled it out. What was that look across her face, there was a sick look of enjoyment in her eyes.

Inuyasha could barely believe what he was seeing, the young, defenceless, somewhat clumsy woman he had spent the last few months with was no-where to be seen but in her place something different stood, something unfamiliar to him and yet horrifyingly scary. He ran forward to her, reaching out to put his hand on her arm, she looked at him in disgust, pure undiluted disgust, her skin had the same hue to it that the well had when it came alive. Her eyes blinked, the white hue was draining from her skin, her eyes went back to their usual colouring and she fell. Inuyasha knelt beside her, he was watching her closely, he saw her top was covered in blood, she'd been bitten he saw it happen his heart had dropped when he saw it, he knew it was her blood that covered her clothes. Yet when he moved the blouse to one side he saw no injury. Infact he saw no injuries at all, the bruising had vanished. The demon lay infront of them, dead by Kiimi's hand quite literally. What on earth was she?


	6. The Failure That Fell

Kiimi once again awoke in Kaede's hut, trying to pull the fragmented memories back into one piece. She wondered to herself when she would stop waking up in other people's homes lost and confused. She was laying on her back, someone had popped a soft pillow under her head, it was a nice effort but it didn't stop her head from hurting. She would love some modern day pain relief for her head right about now, she began to sit up and she was about to flinch due to her numerous injuries and she realised she wasn't flinching. She knew she got bitten, bitten so badly by all rights she probably should have lost half her shoulder and died from blood loss, but there was nothing. Infact her skin was beautifully clear from any scaring at all. She closed her eyes and then it happened again, this pain she was becoming accustomed to now but it never relented in the sharpness of pain. She gripped her hair, squinted her eyes shut, held her breathing and then came the images. The images blurry at first, came into focus, clear focus, a focus that Kiimi had never seen life in before but here she was seeing everything in high definition. She had felt strength coursing through her veins, pumping into every part of her body and then she saw her self-killing that demon. Her fingers relaxed, she let go of her hair, how could it be that she could barely swing a punch and yet here she was killing off a demon.

Failed. Experiment. She drew her hand up to her mouth as she took a sharp intake on breath, what the hell was she. Was this what her uncle had been looking for, he had been looking at her eyes wanting to see some physical change. If she was a failed experiment, how was she supposed to turn out. What had they done to her, perhaps it really was her fault that her mother died. Was she evil? "I don't think I'm evil, I don't feel evil" she whispered to herself, she looked at her hands and punched the floor. There was nothing special about her punch now, no extra strength just a normal human throwing a useless punch at the floor. She stayed confused, she didn't want to leave the hut, she didn't want to face Inuyasha. She'd told him she wasn't a demon, and although it wasn't a specific lie obviously something was wrong with her. She said it again in her head, "Failed. Experiment" She had a vision of her uncle grabbing her by the throat to investigate her eyes, she touched her finger tips to her eyes and she looked round the hut "Dammit, no mirrors." She lurched forward and ran to the spring, she wanted to check her reflection. Did she look like a human, were her eyes her own. Inuyasha had been keeping a close eye on her, along with Miroku, they followed her, both with their weapons drawn. Miroku had his sealing papers ready in his hands. They crept up behind her, as she sat looking at her reflection by the water she turned in shock and Miroku slapped a sealing paper on her forehead and started his incantations.

Kiimi started laughing, a loud laugh from the bottom of her belly, she couldn't help herself. Her situation had become so random all she could do was laugh with a piece of paper stuck to her head. Inuyasha gave Miroku a sideways glance, he was holding his sword, pointed at her. If she was a threat he would kill her, but he could sense no threat eventually he caught up with why she was laughing and he joined in too. With the laughter passing they were left with the situation that needed investigation, and they all agreed the only way to do this is repeat the process. Effectively they needed to feed Kiimi to demons to initiate the transformation again. This time they would be ready to deal with the situation and watch it unfold.

Miroku, Kaede , Inuyasha and Kiimi went hunting except there were no changes in Kiimi, all they learnt was in her normal form Kiimi was a horrendous liability in a battle. The only good that came from the constant battles was the training it was giving Inuyasha, although he still was not up to form.


	7. So, It Begins

The night of the new moon.

Inuyasha opened his eyes, his usual long white hair started to change colour slowly it turned to jet black, his claws retracted and he opened his eyes. Kiimi looked at him and initially shocked to see him as a human shrugged "you make an alright human I guess" She let a sly smile pass her lip, there was a compliment behind what she said. It was no surprise really, he had told her it would happen, she envied him for the smooth transition, she hadn't been back through the well nor had she had another relapse so she hadn't experienced any more agonising memory flashbacks but still she knew how they felt, she feared them happening again. Although she could see sense in what they were doing by trying to trigger it, she feared what she would become. Again her uncle's hateful voice was in her ears. He'd intended to use her for something, she hadn't considered the phone call he made that night. It wasn't just her uncle that knew something about her, she couldn't fathom who was on the other end of the phone giving the kill order. Was her life so worthless that they would just kill her for existing not as they planned. The thought sent chills through her body and she fell silent.

They slept by a lit fire, as a human Inuyasha felt the tiredness, he felt the coldness as any human would. He also felt the emotions as any human would too, he couldn't help but worry about what was happening. Although he felt worry, he was secretly feeling alive again, his life had become stale in his grief. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the night sky. His shoulders felt lighter somehow, had some more of the grief moved? No he thought to himself it's still there. He considered his feelings at that precise moment, he still missed Kagome but he was learning how to care and yet he was able to continue with his life. When they returned to the village he would go see her grave and apologise, tell her he's doing okay and she needn't worry about him.

Inuyasha rolled back over and glanced over at the group by the fire, he had a habit of watching his friends while they slept. "Ever the watch dog" he thought to himself. He was close to closing his eyes again and he'd noticed at some point Kiimi had gotten up, he hadn't been aware of her leaving, he shouldn't follow her she may be going to the toilet. After 15 minutes Kiimi still hadn't returned, Inuyasha got up to go look for her, "Dammit I can't pick up her scent as a human" he had to rely on human methods of tracking her, he followed her footsteps through the woodland. The footsteps started to have a drag mark in them, "She's being dragged" he gasped, "She's been attacked" he started to rush forward, pushing the branches out of the way, he found items of clothing strewn across the floor. The obvious atrocities were crossing his mind as he rushed forward calling her name with urgency in the tone. But there was no reply, he'd lost his way now he couldn't see any footprints at all now, frustrated he yelled out her name as loud as he could, he could feel his voice breaking when he yelled. The world fell silent, he tried to slow his breathing as much as possible he needed his stupid human ears to pick out any sounds across the woodland floor, "Yes!" he thought he could hear something.

He could see her through the trees, her skin had paled again, it had that deathly pale hue to it. It was almost impossible to miss her in this darkness. "It's happening again" he said out-loud to himself, but what had triggered it this time.

He was human, if she attacked him now he wouldn't stand a chance, he crept forward keeping a safe distance from her, she was staggering forward almost appearing drunk, dragging her feet and leaning on branches as she walked forward. Inuyasha could see that she was headed for the water infront of her. This was no hot spring it was cold, iced over almost. Why would she be headed towards that, with hardly any clothes on! He had to stop her, had her skin paled because of the temperature? He caught up with her and grabbed her arm, she looked round at him almost seeing past Inuyasha, not focussing on any one thing – her eyes were flickering from her usual colours to white/blue and back again. Her skin felt hard to touch, there was nothing soft about her skin anymore. She suddenly looked him in the eyes and said weakly "hot, too hot." He looked at the water and back at her and frantically started shaking his head "You can't go in there, it's too cold you need to come back." He pulled at her arm but she just kept walking, breaking his grasp with ease. She waded into the water, no flinching, no reaction to the ice at all. Inuyasha gasped, and walked in just up to his ankles, "it's too cold I can't follow you" she put her head under the water, Inuyasha reached his hand out to stop her but there was nothing he could do she had already submerged herself. He couldn't stop what was happening. She stayed under the water for what felt like an eternity and eventually lifted her head screaming, Inuyasha braced the pain of the iced water and swam in further to her, he looked for her eyes before going any further it was hard to see them through the thrashing woman's movements but he saw them. Both eyes were her human colouring, he pulled her out and dragged her to the edge. He wrapped the clothes around her that she'd dropped along the way, she was resisting everything, every touch seemed to cause her more pain.

Kiimi let Inuyasha pull her from the freezing water, it felt so good to be in the water. It was soothing the heat she was feeling at that moment, why did he keep telling her it wasn't safe when it felt amazing, why would he stop that. It was soothing her pain, so much heat, every single cell in her body felt like it had sun burn, it itched below the surface of the skin. Then with a split second the water changed from soothing to causing excruciating pain so she let him pull her out the water but he kept trying to cover her with clothing but it was hurting. Why was it hurting so much she thought. Her skin was burning all over and he kept touching her skin she needed him to just stop. She knelt down on all fours, pulling clumps of her hair out ,she didn't even care. Her skin was being pulled apart, her eyes felt like someone had put acid into them and her spine, she couldn't comprehend what was happening to her spine. Inuyasha, sitting next to her could see it all happen but he was getting a different perspective than Kiimi, she wasn't aware of what the physical changes looked like. Her skin had changed again, white blue again with small markings etched into it like they had been carved into the skin itself, her eyes had lost their colouring, then he witnessed her spine moving. He moved back and sat in disbelief, her spine was moving actually moving, he looked at Kiimi's face. All he saw was agonising pain, how much more could she take before passing out from the pain.

Next to her spine 2 new line of lumps appeared, they looked like miniature spines, it looked like they were trying to break through the skin. Kiimi looked round at Inuyasha and screamed "break the skin, cut it! Cut it open !" she had been trying to scratch the skin open herself but her human nails were just scrapping the skin, getting small parts of flesh under her nails. Inuyasha looked at his own hands "Human, weak human hands" he had no idea what to do, his sword wouldn't react to him right now, it was just a dull edged poor excuse for a sword whilst he was human. Kaede broke through the trees with a dagger in her hand, Kiimi looked at the old woman and begged "please, end this. Cut it ! Cut it out ! What are you waiting for ! CUT. IT. OUT! JUST DO IT !" Her eyes were wide, stricken with pain, desperate for any method that could stop what was happening to her body.

Kaede took the dagger and pushed it into her back and pulled it down along the new line of bones, the pressure Kiimi was feeling was released she had a small respite from the pain, blood flowing down her back, there were now bones protruding from her back. She had relief in her face, Inuyasha was confused how she could look so relieved and still be in so much pain. He was unable to help at all, he could always battle for Kagome, he was useful to her he could protect her from the dangers of this world but this was new to Inuyasha he couldn't use brute strength here he was out of his depth and he was confused how could he protect Kiimi from herself. He looked at the scene that had unfolded infront of him, the floor was showered in blood, what's worse - it was still coming. Inuyasha looked at Kiimi, what was next?


	8. What Doesn't Kill You

By now everyone was sitting by Kiimi, watching her movements. There was nothing further they could do to help her, all they could do was watch her transition into what-ever it was she was becoming. The screaming had stopped now, there was just whimpering sounds with some crying, she was convulsing on the floor. All Inuyasha could do was sit with her and be nearby for her. The Sun was rising and Inuyasha sighed a breath of relief he was becoming his demon self once again.

Miroku looked up swiftly "dammit not now" he thought, he grabbed his staff, everyone else could sense the demonic aura drawing closer. Sango pulled her weapon close to her and stood up, Inuyasha pulled the Tessaiga out and Kaede moved closer to Kiimi. They formed a protective grouping around her, demons were creeping out of the trees all with their attention fixed on Kiimi writhing on the floor. Inuyasha looked at the hoard and then back to Kiimi, there were pools of blood surrounding her body, he sniffed the air and it was sickly sweet it was almost making him gag. So much sweeter than any blood he'd ever encountered before, but not demonic "She's attracting them!"

The Demons lurched forward, there were all sorts of types in the, big ones, small ones, ones that looked human but one thing was certain they all looked ravenous, mouths hang open with saliva dripping out all of them fixated on Kiimi. Inuyasha used the Wind Scar attack, he grinned to himself. The situation was dire, dangerous but finally he was able to protect his friends again he flashed his claws and shouted "I'm gonna kill you all! Who's next? Come on !" but it didn't matter how many attacks he threw out at the hoard they just kept coming, before long they were getting closer and closer to the group until their backs were up against each other. They'd been pushed back, how did this happen ? Why was Kiimi's blood attracting SO many demons.

Kiimi looked up, she knew what was happening and she wouldn't allow these people to die for her. She could barely see, her vision was blurred and to even open her eyes was painful – she could only relate it to being under water and trying to see, she inched away from Kaede and stood and started to back away from her friends. She was just about managing to walk but she was retreating into the forest "Lead them away from them, you can't let people get hurt" she kept repeating it to herself and she vanished from their sight, she looked back over her shoulder and saw the moment Inuyasha realised she wasn't there anymore. She wasn't leaving them, she wanted to save them but unable to fight in her state all she could do was die on her own. Many of the demons had followed her, her plan was working, she saw a clearing up ahead "I just have to make it there". She got to the middle of the clearing and collapsed on the floor. "This is it, I'm going to die now. It's okay. I'm okay with it. I've made some good friends, yeah they're good friends…. It may have taken all my life to finally make friends but it's okay…why did it have to take so long to find these people to only have to leave them! I wish I was strong enough to protect them, friends protect each other don't they." The more she thought about her impending death the more resolve she was gaining to stand back up and fight, she went to one knee and fought to get her-self up standing. She held her fists up infront of her face, she could imagine Inuyasha laughing at her now.

The demons broke through into the clearing, the sheer volume of them just looked like oil spilling out into the area, ruining the beautiful colours of the woodland with their disgusting dark colours. She looked at them all with absolute resolve that if she was going to die, at least she would die fighting.

Inuyasha carried Kaede, Miroku and Sango raced after Kiimi. Inuyasha couldn't hide his annoyance "I could have protected her, why did she leave! She's going to die! I COULD HAVE PROTECTED HER." Kaede knew nothing she could say could calm him, he saw this as a way to make right Kagome's death. He needed to save someone, Kiimi took the option away from him. Kaede knew this but she also knew they were losing the battle. "We're getting close!" Inuyasha leapt forward, racing ahead of Sango and Miroku. There was a constant noise of movement in the air and then silence, an eerie silence. They all stopped running, in the distance something had exploded in pure white light. If they'd been any closer they would have been included in the explosion. Inuyasha dropped the old woman, he chased forward, he had no idea what was happen but he'd come to understand that white light was usually Kiimi was involved but she'd already gone through so much physically what else was left to happen. Inuyasha reached the clearing, bodies of dead demons littered the floor, his weapon was in his hand ready to fight but there were few demons left to kill. He looked for the reason but he looked and found Kiimi fighting with immense speed, blocking, punching, kicking, tearing body parts from her opponent's bodies.

The light washed over Kiimi, her body reacted to it. She was pulled upwards, her back straightened and two wings flew from the new growths in her back. They almost matched her in height, they almost reached the floor. The iris in her eyes were white, no emotion was reaching her eyes, the etchings covered her entire body now they seemed to glow and dance across her skin, constantly moving. She moved with alarming speed and strength, she was taking damage every time she received a blow the etchings moved and it healed almost instantly. The damage wasn't slowing her down, she wasn't even taking any notice the damage. She saw the last demon standing, he had white long hair, dog ears, red clothing, yellow eyes, holding a sword. She grinned and started to run towards Inuyasha with an intent to kill him.


	9. Beauty & The Beast

Kiimi had launched herself towards Inuyasha, there was pure energy rushing through her, she had a mission to do and she couldn't question what she was doing. "Kill the demon, Kill all demons" it ran through her mind over and over again, the demon infront of her was no one of importance to her. Inuyasha's eyes opened as wide as he could, he didn't want to become another dead body littering the floor but equally he did not want to fight his friend. He held his sword up blocking her attacks but she kept coming for him, each swing had more ferocity in it, he found himself jumping backwards to dodge her attacks. He was losing his footing underneath the dead bodies, he could feel their blood on his feet, "Kiimi! It's me! It's Inuyasha! You've been possessed ! you're stronger than this! Come back to me!" It made no difference, Kiimi just kept going. Miruko came through into the clearing, he was taking in the situation for the first time, shocked and speechless. Inuyasha glanced round at Miruko and shouted, "If you have any ideas now would be an amazing time to share!" again Inuyasha dodged her attacks. Miruko taking in the scene infront of him stood thinking, watching Kiimi fight Inuyasha. He run infront of Inuyasha, he wanted to test his idea "Let me take a blow Inuyasha" Inuyasha replied "She will kill you!" Kiimi pushed Miruko out of her path, she had no interest in him at all.

The game of cat and mouse had clearly begun to bore Kiimi, there was now some distance between her and Inuyasha, both pairs out of breath. "Enough of this! You will know your end! We are here to set the balance!" and with that, she stood with one foot infront of the other, whilst looking straight at Inuyasha, she moved her hands and a bow and arrow appeared in them made entirely of crystallised light, she pulled the arrow back ready to fire. Inuyasha knew one hit from that bow and he would be dead, his robes would not heal a wound made by that weapon. As Kiimi was getting ready to release the bow Miruko shouted "Cut your hand! Blood! Show her your blood! You're half human!" Inuyasha didn't understand what difference it would make but he did as he was told, he held his Tessaiga and slammed his palm down on top of the blade, it pierced down into the his flesh. Inuyasha held his bleeding hand up towards kiimi, she lifted her nose in the air and sniffed.

It felt like a very long time since he'd seen Kiimi's innocent smile, but as soon as she smelt his blood a smile spread across her face and the Crystal Bow disappeared. Inuyasha wasn't quite prepared to lower his weapon infront of Kiimi, he wasn't convinced she wasn't going to try to kill him again.

Kiimi stood infront of Kaede, Inuyasha, Sango and Miruko. She was looking at her skin, touching her face, she glanced down at the ground. "I killed so many demons, I wanted to kill you. Like….I needed to kill you I couldn't question it. You smelt like a demon and that was all I needed to know." Inuyasha was nodding, "SO! You're SURE you don't want to kill me" She laughed and smiled at him, "Well, not at this precise moment but I can't guarantee I won't later on." Although it was meant as a joke, everyone there was fully aware of the truth behind the joke. It could happen again.

They started to walk back to the village, Kiimi was walking with Kaede discussing the events of the day, Miruko and Sango were walking upfront, Miruko was being reprimanded for running into the battle to test his theory without considering his family. Inuyasha was walking at the back of the group, his arms were crossed and he stayed deep in thought for most of the journey back. He was watching kiimi, to be more specific he was looking at her wings, purist white he'd ever seen, feathered wings, hundreds of feathers. He couldn't help himself, he reached forward and stroked them, "Hey hey hey! Off the goods!" Kiimi spun around tapping his hands away. "What! Like you've never touched my ears! This is only fair as you DID try to kill me!" Inuyasha rebuked. Kiimi couldn't help herself, laughing she grabbed his ears, Inuyasha pushed both his hands into her wings, they were both laughing. Kaede was smiling at the two of them, after such an awful few months they had found something to share and laugh at, she smiled at their enjoyment. Inuyasha snapped his hand back, "I didn't! I'm so sorry! I didn't pull them out, I promise!" Kiimi looked in his hand and saw his hands were full of her feathers, but as he said he hadn't pulled them out. She looked down at her arms and the etchings in her skin were fading, her usual skin tone was returning, she looked up at Inuyasha and said in a worried tone, "Oh no…." Her knees had buckled under her, her clenched her teeth together and pushed her hands into the ground beneath her. Her wings had retracted completely back into her body, she was human again. "Well, the good news is – going in is less painful than coming out!" she did a half laugh "Always look on the bright side and all that…" Inuyasha helped her back to her feet, they had to carry on walking back home they couldn't take the chance of being attacked again. Without thought Inuyasha had put some of Kiimi's feathers in one of his pockets.

That evening the group had a meeting. Kiimi opened the conversation "I need answers, I can't risk killing Inuyasha again. The only person who seems to know anything about who I am or what I am seems to be my uncle. I'll go get my answers and come back. I have no intention of staying there, I just need to know how to deal with what-ever I am. There has to be a way of fixing me, back to how I was before." Inuyasha's disapproval was obvious to everyone, "No. I forbid it. Look at how you came back last time! What if he actually succeeds in killing you?" Kiimi was shaking her head, she'd already made her decision, this meeting was just an explanation of her plans. She stood, dusted herself down and made her goodbyes. Inuyasha followed her to the well, he was angry with her for going back to the uncle, he didn't understand why she wouldn't just stay. Kiimi placed her hand on his arm and said "I can't risk killing you, you're the only person who's cared enough about me to try to help me. I have to do this, it's my way of making sure you stay safe from me. I will come back, you have my promise." Inuyasha couldn't look her in the eyes but he nodded, it was as close as she was going to get as permission to go back. She glanced at the well, it reacted to her wishes and lit up with the usual energy filling the air around them, she jumped in.

The Other Side.

Kiimi pulled herself out the well, looking around the courtyard, nothing much had changed. How long had she been away now, she wondered to herself. She hadn't noticed that the well continued to stay lit behind her as she walked to the house. She knocked on the front door of the house, she didn't feel quite right barging in as she no longer lived there. Her uncle opened the door and he looked down his nose at her, he smirked "Found your way back then did ya brat." He gestured in the house, he sat went straight into the kitchen, she followed him into the living room "No guns this time then?" He shouted from the kitchen "Ah no hard feelings, I was only tryna help." She sat down, she was looking round the living room, finally she settled on her uncle returning. Had his frame got more muscular? He was standing up straighter, he'd finally got his hair cut – it was a buzz cut, a bit too severe. He passed her a glass of water, he managed to get himself a whisky. He sat opposite her, smirking still. "Go on, ask." Never once did he look at her in the eyes, "I have so many questions, you beat me, for years you beat me. Why", she struggled to keep the emotion out of her voice. "To get your DNA to trigger, seems like I actually had to try to kill you for it to go into survival mode." She nodded to his answer, "Mum…" His face stiffened, "Dead, how do you think you got your different coloured eyes. One eye is a little bit more blue than the other isn't it" She touched her face but remained quiet. "My sister went into labour early, your DNA was causing her to have a difficult pregnancy. You were sucking the energy out of her, her body couldn't nourish you enough. When you started to die in the womb, her body went into labour to evict the parasitic entity inside it and as a reaction some of your DNA activated, it went into survival mode. You half turned, hence your eyes becoming different colours. I'm guessing you've fully activated or else you wouldn't have come back here to me asking questions. You've witnessed first-hand what happens when your DNA activates. You tore her apart. You killed your mother. There was no way she could have survived you" Kiimi couldn't speak, not after that. Her uncle took a swig of whisky, "Next." He had broken her thoughts, "Dad…" He took another mouthful, "Classified." She thought to herself "He's alive then…" She looked at her uncle, when had he stood infront of her. He snapped a metal collar round her neck and all of a sudden there were men breaking the front door open. She was desperately willing her powers to awaken, "Come on! WOOSH, ZAP, KAPAW!" nothing. Her looked down at her, laughing. All of a sudden his physical appearance became obvious he was military. She sat, helpless unable to react at all. "That demon, that white haired one wore something like this beauty you're wearing here. Where do you think we got the idea from? This is based off that except more powerful, instead of just subjugating for a short moment this completely shuts you down whilst it's round your neck. Nifty huh." Kiimi looked up at him, emotion still in her eyes. How much was he aware of, what did he know. The men in the room had their guns pointed at her, they lifted her from the chair and dragged her out the house. They put her in the back of an armoured vehicle. Kiimi realised she'd been set up in every meaning, they were waiting for her to return. They chained her in to the vehicle, she had tears in her eyes now, she realised she would break her promise to Inuyasha – she wouldn't be returning to him, she had no friends her that were going to come running out of the shadows and fight for her, she had no tricks up her sleeve. She was alone now and she was scared.


	10. Abomination in the Bloodline

Abomination Lineage

Inuyasha watched Kiimi go through the well again, and again he felt that pit of despair in the bottom of his stomach. It was wrong and he knew it, he knew she was going back to get her arse handed to yet, again. He was pacing backwards and forwards now, his agitation clearly showing. He looked at the well still glowing, she must have been still travelling through, he let a sly smile cross his face and he jumped in. The smile soon disappeared from his face, this was not as smooth as it was when he travelled with Kagome. He felt his skin being wrenched from his bones and back again, he felt like his blood was on fire and the noise was deafening to him, he covered his ears and screamed. It was the only way he could make it through the passage without losing his mind. "Inuyasha, Inuyasha!" that voice, he knew that voice. He could just about hear Kagome's voice through all of the noise, he opened his eyes and he sighed a breath of relief when he was thrown out the passage and into the current era. He climbed to the surface just in time to see Kiimi hauled into a van. If only he'd been minutes earlier, the van was pulling away. Inuyasha prepared to fight to win his friend back was ambushed, knocked down and chained. "We've got the half demon sir", he heard one of the men clad in black clothing say into a mobile device, "We only had that one collar, we're bringing him in." They pulled Inuyasha's arms back behind him, one man walked up to him and smacked him in the head with the butt on his gun. They pulled him into the van and drove to the same facility they took Kiimi.

Heart In A Cage

They threw Inuyasha in a cell, they hadn't removed his chains. Inuyasha tried and tried but there was no breaking them, he looked around the room. Cell after cell, all empty apart from one.

"YOU IDIOT! You let her get captured?!" An annoyed male's voice sounded out. Inuyasha looked and saw in the cell next to him a figure slumped in the darkness. No wonder he'd not seen him. He saw the figure of a man move slightly, he opened his eyes and had the same white glare Kiimi's have. The male couched and wheezed, "Idiot, stupid half demon." Inuyasha replied "Hey I don't know you mister! Enough with calling me an idiot alright." The man chuckled to himself, "I never thought I would live to see the day when I allowed my-self to tell one of your kind my name. This time you can call me Adriel, it's nice to see you Inuyasha."

Inuyasha wracked his mind, he had never met this man before. He came closer to the bars, he wanted to see his face, "Don't get too close. You may only be a half demon but I still want to kill you. You are testing my will power. I don't have much time left. Where is my daughter. She's awakened her DNA I presume?"

This was making sense to Inuyasha now, he was her dad. He was like her physically. "Uhm, yeah, she looks like you now. But not all the time though she's having trouble controlling it, she came back here to find out more about what was happening because she tried to kill me." "Yes, I'm actually surprised you're alive against an active angel. We're sentinels, we're here to do a job. Demons are not supposed to exist, they were an accident so we were put here to equal the playing field. Your Priestesses were permitted low quality powers to deal with the fodder and angels are brought in to manage the larger demons. When Kiimi activated it was like having a life time of information put into her mind, she wouldn't have been able to reason with it." He took in a deep breath, "We never for one moment thought that humans and demons would breed, this caused many issues. Kiimi is also an abomination, she is herself a Halfling." Inuyasha showing his annoyance "Hey ! that's your daughter you just called an abomination!" Adriel closed his eyes and shook his head, "I was captured almost 30 years ago, 10 years they tested on me, 10 years they made me impregnate women. They died every single time, I knew they would die and I knew the babies would die. It is not natural. Angels do not breed, we do not feel love and we are not capable of bringing children up. It is not our purpose." Inuyasha replied "You must love Kiimi though, you were annoyed at her getting captured." Adriel annoyed at Inuyasha "You think that's what I care about? She's half human half angel bred by the evil humans that kept me captive for 30 years. She's a creature of their making and now she's being held captive by them, you honestly believe that they don't have a plan for her. She's dangerous to this world that we spent hundreds of years cleaning of your kind! I'm the last one of my brethren left and I'm dying myself." Inuyasha looked at him, he was right, the light was disappearing from his eyes, he could barely stand.

They stood glaring at each other for a while. Eventually Adriel relented, "They're bringing her back here only momentarily, they will force her back into your era. The men here have grotesque plans for her. It is what they bred her for, they could not do it with an angel so they have to create a Halfling. Humans can be controlled, with the mind, physically anyway really, they are weak creatures. She has strength it's true and they plan to use it to their advantage. They will force her to open the passage." Inuyasha was trying to understand more "I don't understand what is so special about my era that you don't have here." Adriel looked him in the eyes, he stood up tall. Inuyasha could see what an imposing figure Adriel was, broad, muscular a strong jaw line, his platinum white hair half way down his body, he had the same etchings on his skin as Kiimi did. Adriel said the words, "Your era has Demons, to be more precise your era still has the original demon that first came through the gate. The demon that all others bred from. In your time Inuyasha, we were unable to deal with it. We simply didn't have the power. We made it sleep until we could deal with it. They have taken Kiimi to go find the demon that slumbers before the angels deal with it."

 **Angel Within**

Kiimi tried to move her neck, she was using every piece of will power to move. The spikes dug deeper into her throat, blood was trickling down her neck now. Something about the collar was holding Kiimi firm in place, she couldn't argue with it, she couldn't even lift her arms to defend herself. Her uncle had dragged her from room to room, the last room had a man clothed in a white coat and another man in military uniform. Both were equally scary looking in their own rights, the military man didn't move, he just watched her. The other man walked up to her, he had a disgusting face, sharp features, small eyes, in his 60's. He stopped about a foot infront of her and grinned, "Hello child, that pretty little collar is one of mine. Do you like it?" he took his hands from his pockets and revealed a knife, he took a swipe at Kiimi leaving a slash across her cheek. Her eyes instantly flashed blue, in the same instant her eyes flashed blue the collar reacted and the spikes jutted themselves in to her neck and back again. She couldn't move, she couldn't retaliate, and he knew it. "My name is Cedric, you're alive because of me. You should be thanking me." Again he laughed, "oh sorry yes yes yes, you can't" He muttered and walked away from her, he nodded to the other man in the room. "As you can see even if she wanted to react and turn angel on us, she is simple incapable." The other man looked at her and walk towards her, he put his hands on her face, lifting her chin, looking at her not as a human though – like she was something below him. "Will the collar work when we're finished with her?" Cedric simply nodded.

They pulled a heavy bag over her head and left her alone, in an empty room tied up for what felt like hours. Eventually they hauled her once again into a vehicle, "You will take us through the passage." Kiimi still had the bag over her head, she thought to herself "If I can get through the passage either the travel itself will kill them or Inuyasha will save me on the other side and this will be fine. I'll be fine, this will be sorted and everything will be fine." She hoped.

She passed them through the well, but there was no one on the other side for her she desperately looked for Inuyasha. He would know she was hurt, he would come running, he would come running any second now. No one came for her.

The Escape

Adriel looked at Inuyasha, "She's been taken back across to your era. I can't sense her here anymore. She's in trouble though" Inuyasha scoffed at his comment, "you haven't seen her fight for her life before, she'll be fine." "You fool, did you not notice what she had round her neck when she was captured? She wears a frightening version of what you CHOOSE to wear round yours. She's lost her ability to move."

That explained how she was captured so easily. Inuyasha started ramming the cell bars, over and over. Inuyasha finally realised if Kiimi had been taken prisoner back to the past Inuyasha was stuck here being a test subject like his cell mate neighbour. Adriel leaned against the bars, "I will take you home, I have only enough left in me for one journey. I will die Inuyasha, I will die before we see Kiimi, do you understand this?" and with those words wings shot from his back, he was now almost completely filling his cell with just his wings. In comparison he made Kiimi's look femine and tiny. He used the last of his energy to create a sword of crystallised light which broke through the cell bars. Inuyasha looked at him "Why didn't you do this years ago?" he responded "the collar they kept on me has been given to Kiimi, she will spend her lifetime as their prisoner, I was ready to die in that cell before you appeared." He stumbled, Inuyasha caught him allowing him to steady himself leaning on him. They cut down any guards that crossed their path, they travelled back to the well. Adriel flew, high up in the clouds whilst holding onto Inuyasha. It turns out Inuyasha is not a fan of flight of an angel.

Inuyasha turned to Adriel before entering the well, "I heard Kagome when I travelled through..how is that possible?" Adriel took his time before answering Inuyasha, there was a lot of knowledge about the world that only the angels knew about. "There are many different passage ways through the world, this one connects to your era. When you pass through it, you are passing through life, past present and sometimes even the future. I would imagine the voice you heard was Kagome talking from the past, an event that has been already." Inuyasha looked down at the floor saddened, he had hoped she was talking to him, "She couldn't exist in your world, do you understand that?" Inuyasha didn't understand "A human cannot pick when and where they will live, Shikon jewel or not. She could not exist in a time that was not her own, unfortunately the world had to set itself right. She was causing a fracture in time Inuyasha, she got ill and died because she had wished the jewel away and came back. It was a mistake. The world had to set it right, she could not exist in two different periods of time as a human. Do you understand?" It dawned on Inuyasha now, he really did understand, their love had killed her.

Adriel started speaking again "Angels are loopholes in the system, to maintain balance we can use the passage ways but it comes at a great cost to our health. This will be my last passage through time Inuyasha. I will gift you the option of seeing Kagome again or saving Kiimi. I cannot do both."

Inuyasha had the option to see Kagome again, to see the face of the woman he had loved. A tear formed in his eye "no, she is dead. I need to save what is important to me now." And with that Adriel wasted no time, he pushed Inuyasha through the well, they came through the other side relatively pain free. The advantages to travelling with a fully fledged angel.

Adriel's light was fading faster now, Inuyasha turned to talk to him and realised that when he had said it would be his last passage he wasn't exaggerating, he was going to die there. Adriel looked at Inuyasha "I do care for my daughter, I can't explain how or why or to what lengths but I do. Inuyasha, they will not kill her, they plan to use her to kill everyone else. Please, stop it. Do not let her become a monster. Kill her if you must but do not let her kill people in her era. There are no more angels after me, humans will not be able to control her. There will be no second chances and no fixing this mistake." Inuyasha couldn't imagine a world where he would kill Kiimi he also couldn't imagine a world where Kiimi was on the opposite side to Inuyasha, Adriel let out a small laugh, "you're more pleasant this time around Inuyasha."

Yes, thought Inuyasha, "do you know me Adriel?" Adriel smiled, "have you ever wondered why it was not modern day that you and Kagome met? Did you ever wonder why there are no demons alive in this time period? I'm the reason you aren't alive in this time Inuyasha. I killed you."

It had crossed Inuyasha's mind, why hadn't he ever crossed paths with himself when he went to Kagome's time. If Kikyo's arrow was never taken out what would have happened to his body? Adriel continued, "The Inuyasha I knew had abandoned his humanity. He'd left his friends behind, he'd allowed his demonic blood take over – he was on a downward spiral, he would go on killing sprees across the land. He stopped caring who and what it was he killed. You got the attention of the angels when you killed an innocent woman and child. I was brought in to kill you. You'd had such a taste of blood that it was all you craved Inuyasha, you had lost your human soul. I took pleasure from killing you and putting you out of your misery. I'm sorry. But I am glad that my daughter saved you from repeating that again." As he spoke his feathers were falling. Inuyasha looked at the ground "the day Kiimi fell through the well… I was about to leave.." Adriel was smiling, "it is a great shame I never got to meet her. It seems she has a profound effect on people." Inuyasha suddenly remembered he had picked up some of her feathers, he passed them to Adriel, perhaps he could get some reassurance from them. He took them from Inuyasha and held them to his chest. His eyes lit up brightly one last time as he held the feathers close to him he was treated to seeing a flash back of Kiimi's life.

He took every smile with him as the light dimmed out of his eyes, his wings were baron now- his feathers lay on the floor like scattered leaves in autumn, his feathers begun to decay infront of them, he was still clutching the feathers close to his chest as his eyes closed.

The angel infront of Inuyasha was to be the only angel in existence that would bear the burden of loving someone, losing them and fearing what they would become. Considering angels were not built to have those emotions, Inuyasha felt Adriel came to terms with the emotions very well in his last moments.

The last of the true breed angels had died, in the company of a half demon, whilst holding the feathers of his half-blood human – angel daughter. He had died outside of his cell, on his own terms. Adriel was now gone.


	11. Fading Hope

**Fading Hope**

Kiimi was exhausted, she had trecked miles with the military men. Every now and then they would jab her, seemingly to just check the collar was still working. How she hoped it would stop working and she would be able to break free from her constraints.

They stopped for the evening, there wasn't a big group of them travelling together. She sat with her uncle, it was more out of habit than anything else. He was the known evil in the equation, at least she knew what his evil side looked like. So far the general had barely said a word to her, it surprised her when he sat down next to her and actually looked relaxed, she'd heard the men call him General Arnun. He was poking the fire pit infront of them and he started talking to Kiimi, still not looking at her "Did you lot actually believe no one would notice a time traveller coming and going. We'd been keeping a close eye on her for a long time, that Kagome girl. Of course once she'd wished the jewel away and started attending school again we'd given up hope especially as you seemed to have been a lost cause. We spent 10 years working on your father before we even knew about Kagome, oh how we tried to create another angel. As it turns out Angels aren't born biologically but anyone with these powers can use the passage ways even if just a little bit. Your father kept many secrets to himself, and we had him for 30 years, the little bits we got out of him we put to good use. It was through him we learnt about the passage ways, then we found that girl Kagome, well we went looking for her – She wasn't hard to keep an eye on but we were too slow. We had no choice but to start from scratch, the women your father got pregnant all died, then your mother offered herself up. She was an amazing woman, we were together for many years, she was a wonderful scientist. She believed she would be able to carry a child with the help of science." Kiimi glanced at her uncle, it was hard to notice but his disdain for this man was present, part of her uncle must have hated him for allowing the experiment to go ahead instead of protecting her, he virtually fed her to the wolves for his own gain. General Arnun was still talking "We knew you had inherited some of your father's DNA because you had half turned. I was so happy the experiment had been a success, then unfortunately you had 20 years of disappointing us ahead. Oh we had to get your dear old uncle here to push and push. But we got it eventually! Here you are, making us proud." Kiimi could feel the bile rising to the back of her throat, this man could have been her father, he almost is. Kiimi had a questioning expression on her face, Arnun caught on "Yes, you're probably wondering what we're doing now, You will follow me." That stupid collar on her neck caused her to follow his order, they walked to the edge of where they were camping. Below them there was a small settlement, families asleep in their huts. Kiimi shrugged, she still didn't understand. Arnun put his arm around Kiimi and proudly gestured towards the mountain face infront of them "In there is a slumbering demon. You will merge with this demon! I know it sounds mad but this is the where your mother's genius takes place. We couldn't do this with a full angel, they had no evil in their heart and couldn't merge, a normal human couldn't survive the merge but you….you're special. Because you have human DNA, we naturally as humans have evil within our hearts, you will be able to merge with the demon and the angel DNA will cause you to survive the merge. Now, yes I know how excited you must be right now, it gets even better. It will be a test of wills once it begins, if you win you'll be granted all that extra power – which of course translates to I'll get all that extra power, as you will still be wearing that collar and be under my control. OR you'll fade away, you'll lose against the demon – did I mention this is the original demon? You will lose against this demon, the demon will consume you and be constrained in a human body which means it will retain it's power but still we will still be able to manipulate it with this pretty little collar. You see we really can't lose. Those people down there, they will lose though, which is a shame it really is. We will slaughter every last one of them until there's enough blood in the air that we our-selves will be breathing it in! there will be so much blood it will awaken Asmodeus. And then I will command you to merge and you will just have to do it! Brilliance, I'm so proud of your mother you know." He still had his arm around Kiimi's shoulder, she couldn't help the reflex any longer, she vomited all over the floor. She smiled for a moment, some of the vomit had landed on Arnun's shoes. "Dirty little wench!" he lifted his hand and brought it down heavily across her face, he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hand clean. He turned and walked away leaving Kiimi wretching on the floor.


	12. Blood mist

Blood Mist

Inuyasha said his goodbye's to Adriel, he made his way to his village. He would need back up from Miruko and Sango for what lay ahead.

Part of Inuyasha questioned whether he should get his brother involved, he couldn't guarantee they wouldn't try to kill each other. Infact, Inuyasha knew angel or not Kiimi would probably try to kill his brother, he seemed to have that effect on people.

He entered the village, and made his way to Kaede's hut. He needed to debrief her with the events of the last few days. She was leaning in the doorway, she looked exhausted, worry was apparent in every part of the old woman. Inuyasha could see her as he walked into the town, he thought to himself that she was family to him. He'd known her for most of her life, baring of course those 50 years when he slept. He'd grown accustomed to going to her for advice on anything from battle issues to matters of the heart. He could see that she had been worrying about his disappearance, he smiled as he walked towards her. He stopped infront of her in the doorway, she laid her palm on his shoulder and smiled "I'm so happy you're back Inuyasha" as soon as she'd said she smacked him round the head "You made me worry. Kiimi came back and you weren't with her." Inuyasha rubbing his head looked at Kaede "Kiimi is here?" he started looking round for any sign of Kiimi's presence. Kaede shook her head looking mournful "No, I saw them pull her through the well. I didn't follow them. I'm no fool. They're up to no good Inuyasha. We must go tonight."

Sango and Miroku came towards them, Sango was decked out in her full warrior's uniform. She'd made some small alterations to her weapon. She now had weapons strapped to her legs. Miruko was wearing his usual robes but they both seemed ready for battle more than ever. They both nodded to Inuyasha, Inuyasha took a deep breath "Her father said we may need to kill her." He took another deep breath "I intend to stop them before they turn her into a monster. I don't want to kill her." Inuyasha looked round to Kaede "You're not going" She didn't argue, she knew she was going to be a liability in battle, she rested against the wall of her home. They all came close and hugged, somehow they knew the battle ahead of them was going to be bad it was as if they were saying their goodbyes now, just incase.

The sun would be rising soon, and they were still following the tracks of Kiimi's kidnappers. Her scent was faint but Inuyasha could just about make it out. It still had that sickly sweet smell to it, he would know it anywhere. He stopped sharply and covered his nose, he squinted his eyes shut and looked at Sango and Miroku. They had seemed to be aware of it also, the smell of iron in the air, "The air is thick and heavy, it's like a mist of blood is everywhere" Inuyasha stated was stating the obvious, he got a flash back to what Adriel had mentioned regarding Inuyasha losing his human soul and becoming consumed by blood lust. He now knew how close that came to being a reality and it scared him. The blood disgusted him, he was disgusted by a part of him that almost existed, he vowed to himself he would never let himself become that again.

They climbed the hill and looked down into the village below them, the cause of the blood mist was now obvious. It was scene of destruction below them. Screaming children cried out for their parents, entire families lay butchered on the floor, the village was given no prior warning to the on-coming assault. Women stood in their food preparation areas, slaughtered whilst they made their dinners, children hacked to death whilst they played. It was awful, again Inuyasha remembered Adriel had told him he, himself would have butchered a woman and her child – he shuddered at the thought. Sango started to make her way to the village, "Stop Sango, they're already dead. We cannot save the dead. Whatever was going on down there has happened already" Inuyasha looked around, he couldn't feel the electricity in the air he was confident Kiimi had not killed those people. He drew his sword, ready for battle when the ground beneath them started to shake. He glanced upwards and the mountain infront of them cracked and something ancient came from the shadows. That was when Arnun dragged Kiimi into view, she looked petrified, she was shaking her head side to side trying to dig her heels into the ground beneath her and push back on her captor but it was no use he was over powering her. Inuyasha could see from where he was that she was shaking from fear, she looked round at her friends, tears were running down her face. They didn't need to hear her voice, they all knew her eyes were telling them to run.

The men surrounding Kiimi didn't have their guns pointed at her, they had turned and had their guns pointed at Sango, Miruko and Inuyasha. Arnun started talking, he didn't give them the dignity of looking at them as he barked his order "Dispose of them. Their blood will please Asmodeus." The men shot at them, luckily there was some distance and many of the shots missed, not all of them though. Sango took a bullet in the leg, Inuyasha picked her up in his arms and got her out of range, he laid her down and ordered Miruko to get her back to the village. They refused to leave Inuyasha's side, Inuyasha couldn't deal with them disobeying him right now, he spun around and ran back to Kiimi. He was just in time to watch the events unfold.

Kiimi's voice came into his head, it was crystal clear to him "Kill me Inuyasha, do not let me become a killer." She had her head turned looking at Inuyasha, "Kill me!" again he heard her voice in his head, "Kill me now! Before it starts! I can't win!" Inuyasha looked confused at Kiimi. Was he imagining it?

Two Souls

Asmodeus was neither obviously male or female but there was an frightening beauty that surrounded the demon. The demon did not look hideous, not grotesque like so many demons that came after, there was a grace about it that shocked Kiimi, she thought to herself that it almost looked ethereal, until it smiled at her. Teeth so sharp that were jagged into a grin, the eyes that were seeing the world for the first time in decades and all they saw were opportunities. It moved with fluent strides almost appearing to float over the ground, it moved its arms with gentle movements yet it's hands had the claws of a killer.

The demon took a deep breath, it was breathing in the blood in the air and it smiled. "I LOVE HUMANS" It roared. "Foolish humans! Stupid humans! They brought me here, angels made me sleep and now the humans wake me up!" The demon roared in delight. Arnun looked at Kiimi, "MERGE." The demon snapped his neck round to Kiimi, "A Halfling! NO!"

Kiimi shut her eyes, the last of her tears were falling from her face. She started to run towards the demon, the demon looked at her in disgust. They were trapped in a column of light, no one was able to see anything that was happening inside. Inuyasha couldn't help her, he was fighting her captors but he had never fought against bullets before, or killing humans.

Arnun and her uncle had disappeared leaving Inuyasha to deal with the gunned men. Inuyasha had taken many bullets, he felt the bullets in his shoulder, his leg, he was hurting all over, blood was running down his back. He was looking for the uncle, that damn uncle. Miruko joined Inuyasha in searching.

Compartmentalising a Soul

Kiimi had run in, to merge with a demon meant to offer up one's soul in a binding contract with the demon. This demon's speciality was forging contracts with humans and devouring them from the inside out. Within the column on light Kiimi threw herself at the Demon. "You will become part of me Asmodeus, I will claim YOUR soul. She was tiny compared to the demon but she climbed up the demons body using her legs to hook herself and keep a grip, the demon tried to get her off it's body but to no avail. Although still in human form some of her angel strength was coming through. She pushed her fingers through the demons eyes. They were both still, Kiimi could feel the merge starting. Her wings were piercing the skin on her back, coming through slowly, her eyes were glowing and automatically she was reciting an ancient language she herself wasn't aware she even knew.

"You dare merge with a god, you stupid Halfling" Asmodeus stopped trying to pry Kiimi off and retaliated, "You want to merge! I will show you what it is to MERGE!" and with those words the demon flexed it's claws and laid them on her waist. Asmodeus had a disgusting vile smile on it's face, his claws slithered up to her sides, Kiimi felt violated by even the slightest touch but as she had her fingers in it's eye sockets she felt she couldn't really complain. Asmodeus let out a small almost inaudible laugh and pushed it's claws into her sides, Kiimi screamed out in agony, the demon didn't stop it kept pushing in deeper until it's hands were almost completely in. Blood was gushing from her sides, as blood fell from the demon's face the real merge had begun. Arnun was right, Kiimi's angel DNA had reacted to her dying and the markings started dancing across her skin, trying to repair the wounds around the demon's claws. Her DNA refused to let her die, unfortunately her soul was being destroyed. She could hear the demon's voice in her head, it was laughing at her, berating her life. "Yes, look at these memories. I have access to all these memories. You don't have many memories of happiness do you Halfling. Let me have you, we can have fun together." It spoke to her in a seductive voice, "No. It's my life, I will claim your strength!" Kiimi knew she had to over-power the demon's will power. "We can kill Arnun and your uncle. Make them pay for what they're putting us both through" seductive, again. She would have loved to kill them both. And that was it.

It only took that small eagerness for Asmodeus to lock onto the evil in the human soul. It was the entire reason a Halfling was necessary. It was a crack in Kiimi's defence. She could feel the urge to kill becoming more and more prominent with every passing second, she craved it and she was envisioning herself killing these men. Asmodeus pushed his claws in further, the demon was showing her images of getting revenge on her uncle. How many times had she been hospitalised over her life time from her uncle trying to activate her DNA, how many times as a toddler had she cried after receiving a broken bone, she never received a cuddle or had any comfort. They would return from the hospital, he would sigh at her, shout at her, tell her how much of a disappointment she was and then lock her in her bedroom so stay on her own. She was just a child, no one loved her, she had no mother that would look out for her, no one to tell her it would be okay and that everything would eventually improve. She hated her life, she hated her uncle, she hated that Arnun was pulling the strings and would keep her locked up.

Inuyasha and Miruko walked towards the column of light, he could see the shadow of them both inside. Inuyasha laid his hand against the column, unable to pass through it. "It's solid, not just light but actually solid" Miruko remarked astonished. Inuyasha was trying everything he could to break the column, he tried using his sword, he tried using his claws. Nothing was working.

Asmodeus pulled it's claws from Kiim's sides, smiling at her. She fell to the ground, her eyes had glazed over now, all she was seeing was what Asmodeus was wanting her to see. Death, murder repeated over and over. The demon circled Kiimi as she sat slumped on the floor, it licked the blood from it's claws. "Now that is tasty blood, sweet. Eternal" the demon continued to circle her, watching the pray, Asmodeus placed its hands on her wings, the gentlest of touches almost as gentle as a lover with touch their partner. The demon traced it's fingers along the wing's spine, stroking the feathers and back up to the wings spine again. The demon smiled and placed a hand on each wing, with no warning it wrenched the wings from her back, "YOU ARE MINE."

Kiimi had lost the battle, the column of light was fading around them, her mind was being clouded by Asmodeus. She saw Inuyasha looking at her as the column came down. Asmodeus was no-where to be seen.

She looked at Inuyasha, "Kill me NOW!"

Inuyasha didn't know who had won, Kiimi was going to lose regardless, that's what Adriel had told him. He had to kill her. He pulled his sword out and ran towards her, his eyes were closed as he heaved the sword above his head. He paused for a split second, and he missed his chance. He shouldn't have paused.

"You should have ran" She said in a seductive tone. He looked down at Kiimi, kneeling infront of him. Her voice was different. Kiimi never used a sexy tone before, certainly not with Inuyasha. She looked up at Inuyasha and licked her lips. She grabbed Inuyasha's leg, pushed her fingers into the bullet wound and brought her hand to her mouth, she licked the blood from her finger tips "Kiimi is gone. I'm here now and I'm going to have some fun starting with …. Everything she treasured."

Inuyasha could barely move, he could barely believe what he was seeing in front of him. He'd totally failed his friend. Miruko was pulling at Inuyasha's sleeve "We need to retreat. This is not a battle we can win today." Inuyasha nodded silently, he was lost for words. He leant on Miroku and they began to retreat back to where Sango was hidden. As they retreated Inuyasha glanced back at his lost friend. Arnun walked up to her, he stared at her from head to toe he started to nod. Arnun tapped her collar "Show me your true self. Now." Asmodeus grimaced, "you don't tell me what to do human." As the words came out she winced in pain, her body reacting beyond her control. She let out a low growl, her skin turned grey, her eyes filled with darkness until there was no colour left in them at all, claws replaced fingernails, instead of angel wings there were wings that resembled the wings of a bat. She glared at Arnun, "What did you do human." Arnun was circling her "I will call you Kiimi still, do you understand. It's slightly less….high and mighty than Asmodeus. You belong to me whilst you inhabit that body. You will inhabit that body until I say so, unfortunately for you that body is eternal so you will be stuck in that body for quite some time. You will do as I say." Arnun put his hands on his hips smiling at his proud work unfold before him. "Before you take us back to my era, I will let you play with the locals. Get a taste for your new body." Kiimi flexed her body, "You enslaved me." Arnun replied "You belong to me." Kiimi looked directly at Arnun with her black eyes, unblinking "When I'm free, I will kill you. You will see me coming for you, I will take your legs from you and I will make you beg for me to kill you. I will drag you back to hell for what you've done to me." Arnun said nothing, he just smiled at her.

Kiimi's uncle watched the two, he looked around him, blood stained the floor, the village had been destroyed, barely anything of Kiimi remained. He may have helped the process but he did not imagine this, seeing the demon before them was worse than he imagined. Arnun looked at the uncle "We're going to let Kiimi have some fun before we leave. She will meet us at the well once she's …flexed her muscles. Let's go Haru, your neice has served her purpose." Kiimi expanded her wings and flew into the night.

Inuyasha, sango and Miruko made their way back to the village, Kaede was waiting for them as usual in her doorway. The closer they got to Kaede's hut the more the realised something was wrong. Miruko steadied Sango on his shoulder, Inuyasha took a tentative step forward. Kaede opened her eyes weakly "Sango…They're safe." A long claw was pulled across the old lady's throat, blood poured down her white clothes. Inuyasha could see clearly now, she'd been beaten to a point she was almost unconscious, her eyes barely open from the bruising, her fingers had been broken. A disgusting laugh came from behind Kaede's , Kiimi dropped the old woman's body on the floor. She stepped over it, again she was licking the blood from her fingers. "no no no…." Inuyasha whispered to himself "not Kaede!" Kiimi walked forward up to Inuyasha, she put her hand on his chest and as she walked between the 3 of them she let her hand caress over their skin as she moved from person to person. "she wouldn't play along, I wanted the children. I came here thinking it would have people. She was the only one here. Seems that bitch hid everyone and wouldn't share. I don't like people who don't share."

Inuyasha couldn't take his eyes from Kaede's corpse infront of him, the blood had stopped coming from her neck now but it covered the floor. He'd let so many people down, Adriel, Kiimi, Kaede. He wasn't able to save anyone and now the demon infront of him wanted Sango and Miroku's children. He looked at the demon that was infront of him now, he couldn't hold back "you were meant to be the one! the one that redeemed me!" He pulled his sword out, he attacked the demon "You were meant to be the one! I NEEDED YOU!" She jumped back, licking her lips "yes! Let it out ! Give in to what you're feeling Inuyasha. Desire this urge!" He caught up to her and grabbed the back of her head, he rammed her face into the hut, his grip on one of her arms tightened his claws pierced her skin. She looked at her arm, the etchings appeared and healed the claw marks, she laughed "Huh Angel DNA is handy eh, looks like I'm harder to kill than you thought." They punched at each other, blows sending each other flying into buildings around them. Kiimi grabbed Inuyasha by the throat "Oh I'm going to enjoy this SO MUCH. You know if she wasn't beaten so badly by her uncle she would have actually been hard to corrupt. Your friendship meant to much to her, the 3 of you here actually made her happy." Inuyasha struggled against her but she had unreal strength, her grip round his throat was getting tighter. He managed to grab his sword and thrust it into her side. She released her grip and fell backwards hissing as she fell. She fell to the ground holding her ears, eyes shut tight. "No! get out! You belong to me now bitch! How dare you! Where are you hiding yourself!" Kiimi opened her black eyes, looking around her "Show yourself bitch I can hear you!"

Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha looked from one to another, they had no idea what was happened. She looked like she was losing her mind. Her eyes flashed white, she looked at Inuyasha and screamed "Hold your sword! Inuyasha HOLD YOUR SWORD!" without thinking, he had his sword in his hands.

Kiimi ran towards Inuyasha and threw herself down onto his sword, her body slid all the way down to the hilt, her body slumped onto Inuyasha. Inuyasha looked down, his friend who he believed would save him from becoming a monster had died on his weapon. "no no no Kiimi, please no….I don't want this. I don't want this I don't want this…no no no, I need you, you were the friend that I needed here and now" Tears were falling from his face, he was trying to pull her from his sword. Her blood was covering his sword, spilling over his hands, the blood was making freeing her body difficult. Inuyasha sat on the ground cradling Kiimi's corpse, holding her close to him as he cried.

Arnun and Haru appeared, Kiimi's eyes opened and darkness filled them again, she laughed and pushed herself away from Inuyasha. Her angel markings were dancing across the sword wound she walked towards Arnun. She muttered as she walked "It was a nice try Halfling. Trying to kill yourself, you've lost the element of surprise now I know you're still there in the background…."

No body tried to stop them from leaving. They returned to the present era.

Inuyasha had helped find the villagers, they returned to the village to collect some necessities. Their plan was to travel to a nearby village and seek refuge. Inuyasha stayed, he promised them he would catch up when he was able to do so, Miroku came back for him once he'd ensured his family were safe.

Inuyasha was numb, he didn't know what to believe. He was shaking from head to toe, he kept looking at his sword and seeing Kiimi impaling herself. He relived that moment a hundred times over, the moment the sword cut through her - she was herself. She did what he could not bring himself to do. He shook his head, "It's not my Kiimi anymore." "I think you're wrong Inuyasha" Miroku placed his hand on Inuyasha's shoulder as he sat down beside him, "Kiimi is still there, she stopped the demon from killing you. Somehow Kiimi is still in there. While the etchings still react on her body, I think that is proof there is still angel in there. Whilst there is angel there is Kiimi. I believe we can fix her. I just don't know how." Inuyasha shook his head, "There is no fixing her, not now she's taken human lives." Inuyasha looked at the spot they had buried Kaede, next to Kikyo's grave site. "Damn you old woman, why didn't you leave" Inuyasha said angrily. Miroku following Inuyasha's eye line "I believe she knew what was going to happen and had accepted it Inuyasha. She knew that wasn't Kiimi." Inuyasha was silent. Miroku took a deep breath "I believe we can fix her. I honestly do. But we can't do it from here whilst she's over there." Miroku's shoulders slumped, he'd admitted defeat before even starting.


	13. Time and Time Again

"Actually, I may know an angel….well…I don't know him yet. Adriel, we just need to convince him that a half demon can be his friend and a half angel will end up being his daughter."

Inuyasha realised he needed to explain a lot to Miroku. They sat talking into the early hours of the morning discussing possible plans, they tried everything but they encountered the same issue over and over again. They couldn't kill Kiimi, the angel inside her would always save her. The demon that was living inside her now was ancient, it pre-dated anything Inuyasha knew and there was the issue of both Kiimi and the demon being under the control of Arnun as long as she wore the collar.

Inuyasha now knew that angels existed within his world, although he had never known about them and until recently he had never seen one, he now knew they existed behind the scenes.

Inuyasha explained as best he could to Miruko about the version Inuyasha that Adriel had met. Miruko sighed "This is too confusing for me to understand. Are you saying there are two versions of you?" Inuyasha paused for a moment, "Adriel explained it to me that Kagome caused a fracture in how the world worked. He explained that although angels COULD use the passage ways they were forbidden in interfering in events that existed beyond their worlds. They always had to return to their life, their work. The passage was not without it's costs to their life spans and their powers. I believe Adriel is alive now, here somewhere. A different Adriel to the one I met and yet the same angel." Inuyasha shook his head, "you're right. This is too confusing." He held his head in his hands "We have to try, I can't abandon her. She's alone now, the only company she has it the demon controlling her. Who knows whats happening to her right now…We have to find a way to contact Adriel here."

The men slept a heavy sleep that night, a deep sleep full of questions without answers. Inuyasha dreamt, he only saw darkness but what he heard in his dream frightened him. He heard Kiimi crying, over and over. He heard her sobbing, begging to be saved and realising that no one was coming to save her. He woke up, rubbing his head trying to clear the sounds from his mind. Miroku glanced over at Inuyasha "Bad dream?" Inuyasha replied "Yeah…it's fine I'll shake it off."

"Angels are attracted to Demons causing a furor…they clean up the mess.." Inuyasha rubbed his chin as he said the words outloud, "how about we go find some demons to kill and the angels will come and find me! Then we can begin to find Adriel!". Miroku didn't particularly want to meet Adriel, from what Inuyasha had described angels were not the forgiving type, they were not the type to talk first and fight later – infact he would have rather not meet an angel at all. The entire prospect of the power they could wield scared Miroku, but he agreed with Inuyasha. Neither of them could see another way. They had not yet decided how best to convince Adriel to break their laws about abusing the passage.

The pair went from village to village, asking the villagers if they were experiencing any demon issues. They were dealing with demon issues for miles, but still there were no angels. A village was kind enough to allow them to stay the night free, they had eaten and were getting ready to sleep when Inuyasha began rubbing his head. Miroku had noticed this happening frequently before they were getting ready to sleep "Tell me Inuyasha, what plagues your sleep?" Inuyasha "Just bad dreams that's all. My grief is heavy, lets sleep." Inuyasha watched Miroku drift off to sleep, he watched his eyes close, he envied how easy it was for him to drift off and he watched how soundly he slept. Inuyasha found no comfort in sleeping now, he felt no relief to close his eyes, he felt no return of energy. Every morning he would wake and feel exhausted emotionally, his mind it-self felt worn out. He found himself avoiding the sleep issue entirely.

He walked outside of the hut and stared up at the sky, the moon was visible, the stars were beautiful. He needed to ask for advice, he needed to confide in Kaede, Inuyasha closed his eyes tightly – the image of Kiimi slitting Kaede's throat still haunted his thoughts. There had been so much blood and so much violence. She must have been so afraid, yet she had protected the village, defiant against the demon that wore the skin of a friend. It looked like Kiimi, he had to keep reminding himself that it was not Kiimi – not anymore. It was not Kiimi that murdered Kaede. He told himself this over and over, he told himself that if only he could find a way to fix her he would not feel so alone. He kept his eyes closed, he knew there were tears behind his eye lids, he knew if he had opened his eyes he wouldn't be able to hold back the tears. He saw an image of himself holding Kagome's weak body while she passed away in his arms – she was so calm when she died, she hadn't been angry that she'd had a short life, she looked as though she was at peace when her heart finally gave up on her.

He'd buried Kagome himself, he dug her grave with his own hands, he laid her small body in the ground and he watched his friends cover her body with the earth. That image of Kagome's cold, pale body in the ground came back to Inuyasha, his mind flashed to an image of Kaede laying lifelessly on the floor. He'd failed to save her too. He'd witnessed the moment the life left her eyes, that moment her eyes had warmth in them to the moment when there was nothing. Unlike Kagome, Kaede had been made to suffer for another's enjoyment. Inuyasha didn't need to question if the demon inside Kiimi had found enjoyment from her death, he knew that she'd enjoyed breaking every bone, enjoyed every snap and every crack her body made. Once Kiimi knew that the villagers had been moved she would have revelled in perverted joy of ending Kaede's life.

Inuyasha winced. He could imagine the stunted scream Kaede would have made as her fingers were broken, she wouldn't have given the demon the satisfaction of begging for her life or crying. Knowing that still didn't stop Inuyasha from seeing Kaede's face staring back at him. If only he had killed Kiimi when he had the chance. Inuyasha shook his head, "Another failure" he thought to himself. His eyes still shut tight, he was covered his eyes with his hands now. He wasn't trying to stop the tears, whether he liked it or not they were falling from his face. He saw Kiimi, how many times had he failed her. How many beatings had her body endured, had he condemned her to living as a demon because he was not strong enough to kill her. He saw in his mind the moment that she stopped being his friend and became the demon, the moment she looked up at him with those eyes and that voice. Neither belonged to Kiimi, the pitch was different to her voice, her eyes looked at him differently.

His mind was racing now jumping from memory to memory, he saw Kiimi's body slumped on his sword, her blood seemed to be everywhere, spilling out onto his hands, covering every surface. She had been so desperate to die that she had thrown herself onto the only available weapon. Removing her body from his sword had been an awful ordeal. Inuyasha was sat on the floor by now hysterically crying, he felt no shame in crying this way, he was struggling to catch his breath, he couldn't keep his pain inside any more. He saw himself cradling Kiimi's limp body, the hole in her stomach where his sword had gone through. He saw the look on her face as she made her final decision, she was his friend, the good Kiimi, it was his friend. Inuyasha was shaking his head, eyes shut tight. He kept hearing himself shout to Kiimi "You were meant to be the one that saved me." He'd lost her and she really needed him now but he had no idea what to do next. Inuyasha was afraid to get his friends involved, to bury another one of his friends would destroy his soul.

They had killed so many demons hoping to attract the attention of Adriel but they were getting no-where. He glanced up at the stars, took a deep breath "I need to pull it together, I haven't failed Kiimi yet. I can still bring this back together" that was when it happened again he heard Kiimi crying except this time he had not been asleep, he had not been dreaming. Inuyasha looked around him, he saw no one apart from a sleeping Miroku. He heard her sobbing, he was hearing her crystal clear as though she was stood next to him, "please don't leave me here alone" he heard her sob. He tried calling out to her, but she was not there. And then there was silence again.


	14. Command To Kill

Kiimi was alive, somewhere hidden inside the demon, she was alive still. She had no vision, there was only darkness surrounding her. She was so lonely, with only her own thoughts to keep her company. She wanted to die, even if it meant dying by Inuyasha's hand she didn't want to spend an eternity like this. Kiimi begged for someone to save her, she didn't want to be alone and barely existing whilst the demon did horrific things using her body. She cried out, no one answered her of course.

The demon Kiimi opened her eyes, stretched her body out and walked infront of the mirror. She stared at her reflection, investigating the body she now inhabited. Kiimi was neither pretty nor plain, she certainly wasn't a dainty woman by any means, she had curves – the demon liked this, it played into the seductive games it liked to play, Kiimi's hair was long – too boring for the demon. Kiimi pulled the hair into a pony tail "Ugh I hate it! Boring hair!" she grabbed a pair of scissors and cut her hair to shoulder length. It wasn't a neat hair cut, the demon continued to cut into it making it choppier. Again she looked at her reflection, "better…" A loud stern knock brought her attention back into the room. Arnun entered and smiled at his new pet, "Sit" Kiimi was sent to the floor with a force that almost had her seeing stars in her eyes, she let out a quiet snarl at her captor. Arnun was walking round the room, never looking directly at Kiimi, he'd stopped infront of a window, leaning against the wall, his arms folded but still not looking at her, "I want to test you out, see how effective you are at" he swished his hand in circles "Disposing of a target." "A! you bring me here to make me kill A target…1 person….I need more than that" Kiimi was furious with Arnun. "You'll do as I say. Follow me, don't speak. I don't need to hear your voice anymore today." She couldn't speak, she couldn't open her mouth to object, she wanted to rip his head off, she wanted to devour his organs, bleed his body dry most of all she wanted to kill more than just one measly person. Her skin was itching for the kill, she was almost salivating at the thought of it, the pure unbridled enjoyment of taking a life, seeing the moment the life left their eyes and knowing their souls were doomed to an eternity of torment, never reaching heaven. Anyone killed by Kiimi would not reach their resting place and she loved knowing that.

Arnun had led her to a room, a grey prison room, the walls were mirrored, she could feel Arnun's eyes watching her from the other side. In the centre of the room was a man, a young man. That's all Kiimi saw, she didn't care why he was there, she didn't care if he deserved what was about to happen, she didn't even care if it had been a male or a female. She knew what was about to happen the only choice she had to make was how it was going to happen, it had been days since she had been allowed to kill and she was getting giddy at all the options that were open to her now. The man looked up at her, unknowing what she was he simply said "please, miss….I..I want to go home. I don't remember anything they brought me here, I think they want to hurt me..don't let them hurt me." This is what Kiimi wanted, this is what Kiimi enjoyed, the moment they begged her, she was enjoying this even more than usual because he had mistaken her for a young kind woman, not the evil demon that wore her skin. She took a step forward and reached out her hand and laid it on top of the man's head. "oh god no, I can see your sick desires…don't do this" Kiimi's hand pulled back in shock, "you again! Why are you there!" the man backed away from Kiimi as she talked to herself. "you may be there but you're helpless, you're just a stupid spectator. You shouldn't have tried so hard to save yourself you idiot, you're gonna have to watch this now, you're gonna feel me enjoy it, you'll feel me get off on this and there's not a single thing you can do about it. You should have let yourself be completely taken over, you've done this to yourself." The voices in her head fell silent with a quiet whimper "oh god no…" With that Kiimi's head snapped back to the direction of the man, smiling she said "Oh Darling, we're gonna have so much fun together." Her eyes widened with glee almost becoming darker black than before, her wings shot out of her back covering the floor in black blood, her skin had changed becoming darker and her nails had become claw like sharp weapons. She shot forward with immense power, she played with the man like a cat would play with a mouse, he struggled against her trying to get away from her with everything he had but he knew there was no escape, even if he could get away from her for more than a second he still couldn't get out of the room. She used her claws to slice into his skin, she took delight in marking him as hers, she laughed as she carved her initials into his chest he screamed and cried, he begged for her to let him go. He should have known he was only exciting her more. She stood infront of him now, smiling pulling her hand up to her own face she licked the blood from her claws, she placed her other hand on the back of the man's head, without any warning she thrust her claws into his eyes. He fell to the floor still alive. She was circling him now, still feeling Arnun's glare. "You won't see me coming for you in hell now" her laughter was increasing with every attack, she walked up to him grabbed him by the back of the neck and held him up to where she felt Arnun behind the mirror and proceeded to slice his throat. He was dead, he had served her purpose for a dramatic end, his blood sprayed and covered the mirror. She continued to hold him there until the blood had stopped and she cast his body aside, she leant forward and wrote into the mirror of blood. "I' will come for you"

Arnun pushed the comms button "you are too dramatic, I brought you here to kill effectively." He turned to the other person in the room and ordered "Send the next 2 in" he pressed the button again "This time you will just kill them, I want to see what you can do that makes you strong, I don't want to see how you enjoy killing – I already know that. Show me what makes you special"

Two more people were sent in, this time they were hand cuffed and gagged. They inched into the room, saw the dead body slumped in the corner and the panic was clear in their eyes they knew they would both die here. Kiimi looked at them, they were handcuffed and gagged, this limited the enjoyment she could get from this, there would be no vocal begging, no fighting back. Boring, she thought to herself but because of that stupid collar she was wearing she had no choice but to kill these two effectively showcasing some of what she could do. Again she could feel the real Kiimi in the background of her thoughts in despair, how she wanted to be rid of that nagging feeling of humanity, that weakness she was aware of. Of course she was perfectly able to ignore that feeling. She threw herself at the male prisoner, climbing onto his back she bit down on his neck taking in his blood. Her enjoyment wasn't the taste of the blood so much, she wasn't vampyric in nature it was the sound of it pumping faster, she could taste the panic in the blood. When the body of any living creature goes into panic mode the body releases a different chemical into the blood stream and Kiimi could taste it, she could hear the heart pounding as she connected with the flesh and she loved it. Although it was only a second, for Kiimi it felt much longer. The command of the collar offended her, she had to do the will of her master. She placed her hands on the man's head and wrenched upwards, with that one movement she had separated his head from his neck. She tossed it one side. Arnun pressed the comm device again "I already know you're strong. Show me you're true power."

Kiimi looked at the woman who was left, she didn't try to run she'd accepted what was going to happen to her. Kiimi took a deep breath, she felt it from the bottom of her belly, that familiar warmth of fire, she felt it burn through her veins as it travelled through her body, she walked towards the woman and placed her hand on the side of the woman's face. If they hadn't been in a blood soaked room with two mutilated bodies littering the floor this small gesture would look innocent, kind and gentle but here and now it wreaked of violence. The woman leant into Kiimi's hand, leaning against it then the side of her face started to burn with red intensity, she started to scream and thrash. Kiimi stood smiling as her handy work as the woman's skin was decaying and falling from her skin infront of her revealing her cheek bones, it didn't stop at the place her hand had connected. It continued to spread across her entire body, she only died at the end of it when there was no more flesh to fall from her skeleton, she had been conscious the entire time that her body decayed and fell apart. Kiimi looked at the mirror and simply said nodded to indicate next, that stupid collar was preventing her from talking still as per Arnun's command earlier in the day.

Kiimi killed, she killed and continued to kill. Body after body covered the floor, there was so much blood on the floor it had begun to puddle in places. Bodies heaped up in the room, the stench of iron filled Kiimi's nostrils. She signed inwardly to herself, she wasn't enjoying herself anymore, she'd decapitated women and men, she'd touched the skin of a woman and caused her to rot whilst alive, she had thrown the fires of hell at a few men, she'd bitten through the necks of both men and women and they lastly sent her a true test of the power of the collar. They sent in a child and demanded she kill it, she knew why they had done this one particular test, they knew the true Kiimi resided inside her somewhere and they needed to test if she had any control over the body. Kiimi killed the child with no guilt what so ever, it was the truest evil - the ability to kill an innocent child and feel nothing about it. Kiimi tested out a new power, she felt it tugging at her inside, begging to be used. She looked at the child and took a deep breath she pulled her hands apart and a bright white mist appeared in them, although it looked like mist Kiimi could feel it's weight like lead she threw it at the innocent and there wasn't even a scream to be heard. The death was instant, horrifyingly there was almost nothing left of what was once there. Barely any body just the dust of bones remained on the floor. Angel flame, this was new to a demon.


	15. Strength of Human DNA

Kiimi killed, she killed and continued to kill. Body after body covered the floor, there was so much blood on the floor it had begun to puddle in places. Bodies heaped up in the room, the stench of iron filled Kiimi's nostrils. She signed inwardly to herself, she wasn't enjoying herself anymore, she'd decapitated women and men, she'd touched the skin of a woman and caused her to rot whilst alive, she had thrown the fires of hell at a few men, she'd bitten through the necks of both men and women and they lastly sent her a true test of the power of the collar. They sent in a child and demanded she kill it, she knew why they had done this one particular test, they knew the true Kiimi resided inside her somewhere and they needed to test if she had any control over the body. Kiimi killed the child with no guilt what so ever, it was the truest evil - the ability to kill an innocent child and feel nothing about it. Kiimi tested out a new power, she felt it tugging at her inside, begging to be used. She looked at the child and took a deep breath she pulled her hands apart and a bright white mist appeared in them, although it looked like mist Kiimi could feel it's weight like lead she threw it at the innocent and there wasn't even a scream to be heard. The death was instant, horrifyingly there was almost nothing left of what was once there. Barely any body just the dust of bones remained on the floor. Angel flame, this was new to a demon.

Arnun was pleased with the results he saw infront of him, he had captured a killing machine. This would make other countries bow down before him in any wars the future would hold. They could wage war on anyone and would win, no one would stand a chance against them.

Kiimi was lead from the killing room and escorted back to her bedroom where she could clean herself up. She got in the shower and put the water as hot as it would go, she closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her wet newly cropped hair. She whispered "got your hands dirty today huh, did you enjoy the show?" There was a feeling of despair from deep in Kiimi's stomach, she grimaced at feeling it. "you killed the child...you could have saved the child..." Kiimi's eyes were still shut, she shook her head gently "that's not in my nature. You should know that by now. There's more you don't understand. Believe it or not I'm enjoying being someone's slave. I'm not taking enjoyment from this life." She waited, there was silence for a long time but eventually a meek voice said "I have no sympathy for you monster. I will figure out a way to get free and take control I know I can." "Time for you to get back in your box." Kiimi shook her head and the conversation was done.

Coming out of the shower Kiimi picked up a towel and dried herself off, wrapping it around herself she looked in the mirror again. She looked at the collar that was imprisoning her, she looked a little bit closer and looked at the ancient inscriptions carved into the side of it. She hated the sight of the collar, she hated that she – a god had been trapped by a human. The humans had mixed ancient magic and modern technology to create a device of slavery, they didn't realise that as soon as she was free she was going to kill every single one of them, she had dreamt of all the ways she was going to do it. She looked closer at the collar, almost climbing over the sink to get closer to the mirror, she was seeing a small crack in the inscriptions, Kiimi ran her finger tips over the crack. The magic and science were breaking down? Would Arnun be aware of it? She couldn't believe her luck, but she didn't know what was causing the breakdown. She paced the bathroom up and down, back and forth thinking over and over again. What had changed, she had killed many people in the Feudal era without any change happening, she killed the man in the killing room and still no change. She stopped walking and held her hands out infront of her, she clasped them together and pulled them apart she could feel the pressure between her hands becoming heavy and charged with static electricity, she continued to pull them further apart it felt like she was pulling a metal coil to its limit but as she pulled she saw pure white light come forth and come alive. She felt more powerful than before inside the killing room, although she was able to manipulate the angel flame she was not able to call it and hold onto it "yes" she thought to herself "This is how I killed the child, this is new". This wasn't in her imagination, some part of her had opened up new powers. She looked in the mirror again, the crack in the inscription had spread more, if only a few millimetres, to Kiimi it was her way to freedom. All she had to do was continue to push herself, the way to freedom was becoming clear. She would be a free demon, and she would become a true god in this era.

She walked into the bedroom, still with her towel round her, she looked out of the window. It wasn't much of a view, she was on an army base, she didn't know where. There were no civilians, but army barracks. It was a fairly bleak view, no vivid colours just greys and greens. She could see men running and doing their fitness regimes, working hard to stay at the peak of their fitness. Fight for their country and for what they believed in. She flexed her claws out, looking at the claws that slaughtered so many already, she was going to be used to slaughter entire nations and she knew it, the reason she existed was to feed on the greed of mankind. She enjoyed the thrill of the kill but there was no need to kill nations especially for someone else. Being told to enjoy something does not hold the same enjoyment, Kiimi sighed again. She thought of the child she killed, she hadn't tortured the child it was a quick death. She saw the child's eyes look at her own, her black eyes that had no feeling in them, the child was looking for some sort of reaction but saw nothing. Kiimi's black eyes had no different tones in them, they were pure black, it had made Arnun feel uncomfortable that unlike a human eye Kiimi's offered no reflection. He once got upset with her and yelled "Why can I not see myself in your eyes!" Kiimi laughed to herself.

"you feel guilty, I can sense your guilt. It is small but it is there, that child you killed…you're thinking about that particular death…why?" the demon grunted, "so you are there then, the child offered me no challenge. I couldn't make anyone fear me by killing the child, there was no sport in it." Silence again for a while "no…no..that's not it at all. I can see you there's something changing I just need to look harder in here…" Kiimi the demon felt alone, Kiimi the angel had fallen back again. She was annoyed, although she may be getting stronger with every passing day, she could also feel herself being infected with emotions.

Arnun knocked on the door, he came in before Kiimi could protest. She stood with her back straightened, proud. He looked at her in her towel, his eyes were only half focussing on her. He was drunk, he was wearing his accomplishment of enslaving a god all over his body. His movements wreaked of it. Kiimi could smell the stench of alcohol from the other side of the room. She didn't like the atmosphere that followed Arnun into her bedroom, she liked the way he was glaring at her even less. She put her hand to the collar and touched it subconsciously, mouthing the word "dammit" to herself. That voice was back "Run, don't let him do this…please." This time she was in agreement with the voice, "Don't think he's gonna give me much of a choice, dammit I'm not even strictly a woman. I'm a god!" she muttered to herself barely audible. Arnun leaned against the doorframe, his movements were sluggish. He grinned at Kiimi and slurred his words "I command you" he stopped to snigger, Kiimi glared at Arnun, he spoke again "I command you….drop the towel." Then it happened, more importantly nothing happened, Kiimi didn't budge for a moment. Then she felt that familiar pull to do as she was told, she dropped the towel and stood naked infront of her master. Arnun sniggered and rubbed his chin and walked away. Kiimi scooped her towel off the floor and covered herself again. She felt dirty, revolting and shamed. She touched her face and was even shocked to find her cheeks were wet, she was crying. "So you do have feelings then, am I getting to you monster? I hope having emotions destroys you. I hope these emotions rot you from the inside out. I'd become strong before you came along, I'd lived with a lifetime of abuse I was strong….you're only getting these emotions for the first time now. Like it or not you're actually gonna get emotionally weaker….I guess angel DNA trumps a demon's DNA" she heard a snigger as the voice went quiet. She sat on the edge of the bed, holding the towel tight to her skin, it was then she saw Haru, the abusive uncle standing in the shadows of the doorway. He scurried away once he had been noticed. The look of sadness couldn't have been mistaken across his face.

The demon knew the Halfling was right. In the feudal era she was relying on brute strength to murder people, back then she felt no conflict yet the collar round her neck remained powerful. If she flexes her magical abilities and relies on her newly found angel magic then it puts too much strain on the collar and causes it to weaken, hung her head and held the side of her head in her hands. Kiimi knew that the more she relied on the angel magic to release her from the collar she more emotions she was getting. The face of the child flashed in her mind again, the moment before she killed the child. She threw herself back on the bed, "I'm gonna end up being either a ruddy good guy or a sex slave murderer for a stupid human." She was racing through all different scenarios but was coming back with nothing. The moment Arnun was to realise the collar was weakening in strength would become dangerous. Would he have a back-up collar? Some other method of capture?

Kiimi fell into a deep sleep. She dreamt of home, her home in hell. To anyone else it would have been awful, but to the demon it was a place of comfort, a place she had a job to do. She controlled souls there, she would enter the human plane of existence do make deals with those who were eager to offer up their souls, perhaps sometimes she would encourage them to do this. She dreamt of going back home, walking through the gates of Gehenna but as soon as she walked through and crossed the boundary her skin burned and she screamed and was pushed backward. A loud booming voice came through the gates "You've been tainted and are not welcome! You are more angel than you are demon! You do not belong"

Kiimi woke from her nightmare sitting up straight, out of breath and panicked. "oh god" she said to herself, "Oh god…it's real…I'm stuck here…A stupid demon with a heart! Oh I'm gonna hurt you but then I'm gonna feel bad about it later….oh and I'm not even going to be able to take your soul to hell like I should be doing" she shook her head side to side "I need to fix this I need to fix this"

Kiimi begun to get dressed trying to form some sort of plan of action in her head but coming back with nothing. There was a knock on her door, she glanced to the door and responded with a strong "Enter." To her surprise it was Haru. He walked in and walked up to her, he stopped just infront of her, too close for her liking. He looked at her, looked into her black eyes. He was looking for something, "Are you in there still?" he stuttered his words out, he didn't look like the same abuser from before he was looking regretful. "Kiimi, I…I didn't know it would be like this..i thought it would be different….I had to bury all the bodies, except they weren't bodies they were body parts, each bit severed." his words trailed off as he muttered the last words. He was reliving the moments. Watching him, she felt the need to comfort him. She moved herself away from him before she gave in to the growing emotions inside of her. He had sat himself on the edge of her bed now, he was sobbing into his hands. She wasn't paying any attention to him, she couldn't fully understand why he was here with her right now. She had her own problems to deal with, she was being beaten by an irritating angel. Angels and demons were fighting an eternal war against each other, a forever ying and yang until they exterminated each other. Again she found herself glancing out the window, not even pretending to listen to Haru. Kiimi could feel no presence of pure angels in this era, that thought should have excited some part of her. "Dammit I'm losing my demon soul." Kiimi glanced at Haru, who was still prattling on to himself. "I'm being taken over bit by bit by an angel" She thought to herself. She mulled the words over and over in her head, and she let a sly smile cross her face. She knew what she needed to do to make herself feel better again, she needed to give the real Kiimi exactly what she wanted, she would use the same thing that broke Kiimi in the first place, her darkest desire come to life. She shot forward and pushed Haru back on the bed, she straddled herself on his lap, using her force to push him down, her hands around his throat tightening, she dug her claws into his skin and smiled when she saw small trickles of blood coming down his neck. "Come out to play Kiimi, look I got you a present…I've done all the hard work all you have to do is one last push…I won't even tell anyone, it can be our little secret." The demon relinquished control back to Kiimi. Kiimi's eyes opened, they were their usual odd colours, that one bright shining blue eye. She looked down at her uncle, she found herself in control of the body that once belonged to her. She stared at her uncle, how many years had she thought about revenge, she'd wanted to punch and kick him back. As she saw him properly she was noticing how red his eyes were, the dark circles on his eyes and the bitten nails on his fingers, she saw how tired and haunted he looked. He was looking in her eyes, actually seeing her, he wasn't begging for his life infact he wasn't saying anything at all. She considered killing him, Kiimi knew she was only in control because the demon had allowed it to happen. Considering killing her stupid uncle is how she got in this mess to start with, she looked at her uncle and whispered "help me….find Inuyasha. I forgive you"

Kiimi's eyes slowly oozed black, it was like seeing an oil spill take over a blue ocean. The demon was back, Kiimi had been locked back in her box again. She pulled her claws from Haru's neck and grunted. Her plan to corrupt the half angel inside of her had failed. She was a slave still.

Haru stood in a hurry and left her bedroom, Kiimi didn't care about him. There would no doubt be more killings to carry out today, as long as she only used brute force she wouldn't become an emotional weak demon, but she would continue to be enslaved. She was feeling dread coming deep from inside.


	16. I'm Not Done Yet

I'm Not Done Yet

Kiimi layed down to sleep, she wished her emotions away. She needed to take more action to prevent her from becoming even more emotional than she already was. The merge was starting to reverse, she was losing strength, she tutted to herself and rolled over in her bed. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

The demon had fallen asleep physically and mentally, this was the demon's weakest moment. All the defences had been dropped. Every night when the demon slumbered Kiimi was gaining slightly more control. Although it may not have been physical control Kiimi was able to come out of her box. She was seeing what the demon dreamt about, she chuckled to herself "even the god of demons dreams about going home and getting away from this situation."

Kiimi had not managed to get control like this before, she could feel some semblance of a physical body within the demon's mind. Kiimi could see a large circular room, it was adorned by large hanging decorations, no images on them but some ancient language. The room was dark, there were 12 very decorative seats lining the room and of course at the head of the room was one throne like seat. This would have been were the demon would have sat Kiimi thought to herself. She investigated the the room, walking up to one of the wall hangings, she thought her vision was started to change when everything started to go fuzzy. Kiimi saw Asmodeus in its true form. Kiimi had adjusted to seeing the demon wearing her own skin, she'd forgotten the thing wearing her skin was ancient and dangerous even with the collar on, without the collar things were so much worse.

The demon had been pulled from it's home by some unseen force. Pulled into the human world and sat infront of a man, he was on his knees and dressed in battle attire. He was begging for strength beyond human power to win the war he had started. Asmodeus looked at him, the demon didn't need to probe far to find the greed in the man's soul, the murderous intent and with barely any effort the demon had agreed to a soul contract. The demon supplied the man with extra power, little did the human know that Asmodeus would instantly claim his soul and drag him to hell. The demon had taken a deep breath, it could smell the greed in the world, back when wars between neighbouring villages were common occurrence there was enough greed in the world for Asmodeus to feast for a long time.

The demon Kiimi saw right now was slaughtering villages, this was even older than Inuyasha's time. The demon was taking people and infecting them with its blood, what Kiimi witnessed next horrified her. The demon blood was causing a grotesque reaction on the person. They appeared to be diseased, a long drawn out death awaited them and only after they had died would their eyes reopen as a black mass. Kiimi realised this is the line of demons that Asmodeus created. The demon had put in some special effort for 11 particular demons, they were each different. Kiimi recognised some of the more familiar ones such as the vampire and the warewolf. Kiimi remembered the 11 chairs in the main room. This was obviously her favourites, she remembered the words that Arnun had used "The original demon". Everything that had come after Asmodeus was its children. They would act as soldiers, infecting more and more until there would be legions of demon wreaking havoc and Asmodeus would be able to watch the world panic whilst sitting back growing stronger.

Kiimi put her hand to her mouth "oh god, as soon as the collar comes off this is going to happen.. and I'm gonna have to watch it happen.." Kiimi started to panic, she wasn't done yet she had to keep snooping round. "There has to be something useful here" She continued to search the room she was desperate to find a memory she could use to her advantage. She came closer to the throne. It was carved with images, she looked closer and the closer she looked she noticed that the carvings were moving on their own, she saw so many angels circling the demon, they appeared to be moving and surrounding it. Her eyes shut tight and she was receiving another memory, she saw angels. Many angels were surrounding Asmodeus, reciting an ancient language. Kiimi couldn't hear the words the angels were speaking. She saw one particular angel, long white hair, crystal blue eyes. Something about him looked familiar, she couldn't help but notice he seemed to resemble her. It took a few moments but she suddenly remembered the photo that her uncle had thrown at her. She looked closely at him, almost ignoring any relevant information the memory could offer to her, she watched him move, she watched how graceful his movements were. She whispered to herself whilst stretching her hand out, "Dad… ?" Of course this was a memory she was seeing, she couldn't interact with a memory. There were drums being played by the angels, one angel began reciting louder, the noise was almost deafening to her ears, Asmodeus was sent to the floor, crippled by pain, screaming like a wounded animal, chains came from the floor and bound Asmodeus to the floor. The skin on the angels were glowing white, their eyes were fluorescent white, the markings on their skin danced there was energy in the air that Kiimi had never felt before and pain. Kiimi could feel the pain that Asmodeus had felt, every cell of her body could feel it. Her father stepped forward, he wasn't physically hurting the demon, but his words were causing a visible degree of pain. He kept repeating that he was in charge, the demon would listen to him, fear him and obey him. Asmodeus managed to break free of the chains, the demon had charged towards him and they fought. The drums started to become frantic matching the fight in the centre of the circle, every now n then Asmodeus would scream again and chains would reappear. Her father never stopped talking to the demon though, his fighting speed increased more and he pulled his hands apart and a bow and arrow appeared made entirely of crystallised light, he pulled the arrow back and struck the demon in the heart. The demon spat the words out, "I am the ORIGINAL evil you fool ! I cannot be killed!" the angel smiled "But you can be purified." The demon showed fear, pure fear and for the angel that's what he wanted. The demon's eyes became placid, vacant the darkness faded and although Kiimi couldn't get too close she could see they had unfocussed from the world infront. Adriel walked infront of the demon, he said sternly "You will obey me, you will not speak, do you understand?" the demon nodded in response. "You will sleep, you will not wake." The demon's eyes shut. Kiimi had just witnessed how the control collar that Inuyasha and her physical body was now wearing. "of course every-thing has a beginning" She thought to herself. Kiimi had the information she needed to stop Asmodeus creating a new demon army in her world, it wouldn't end well for Kiimi. The memory hadn't showed her how to kill Asmodeus, it hadn't shown her how to get the demon out of her body but if she could make herself sleep until Inuyasha could figure the rest out perhaps she could still save lives. She just needed to be strong enough to get this information to Inuyasha, somehow. This battle was not over, Kiimi had found a new resolve.


	17. A Good Time to Die

Inuyasha woke up, it had happened again whilst asleep. He'd heard Kiimi talking, although this time he couldn't make out her words as clearly as before. It had sounded like she was talking through a wall, muffled sounds and distorted voices. He'd stretched and reached for his sword, when he came into contact with something that wasn't his sword. Infact it wasn't a something but a someone, Adriel.

Adriel stood proud, holding the Tesaiga in his hands, moving it hand to hand with a confused expression on his face, he watched with disgust as Inuyasha's hand had come into contact with his leg obviously looking for where his sword had been stored. "What business does a human and a demon have travelling together. Do not lie to me monster, my patience is thin." Inuyasha had been startled at hearing Adriel's voice, just as cold as it had been before however here and now he lacked any sense of sarcasm. He reminded himself the Adriel he had met once before had been the product of a very long life through many different ages, of course they would sound different. Miroku came back to the camp fire immediately dropping the breakfast he had managed to swindle from the local village. Adriel shot Miroku a glare " .move human" he held Inuyasha's sword pointing at Miroku and he sniggered as he did it. "This sword holds no power for me, I can sense how strong it is though…I can sense your father's bloodline inside it. I'll hold onto it while we talk."

Inuyasha started to talk, but Adriel held his hand up silencing him. "I talk, you answer then if you have anything left to say that I consider interesting I will listen. Do not annoy me though, my urge to destroy you is strong."

Inuyasha simply nodded, he had not accounted for Adriel being so hostile. Miroku moved very slowly and sat next to Inuyasha. Adriel knelt infront of them both, still holding onto the sword. "why are you killing demons with such ferocity and determination? This is my job, not a half bit demon and a washed up warlock" He glared at Inuyasha, watching his every moment, every twitch and every breath Inuyasha took was being scrutinised. Inuyasha took a deep breath and considered his words very carefully, he was fully aware that Adriel needed no temptation to kill him. "We wanted to get your attention." He made eye contact with Adriel, trying to read his emotions which was a pointless task. "Why. I don't normally trouble myself with things like this but I am curious" He was looking curious now, but Inuyasha still felt like Adriel was playing with his food. Inuyasha glanced at Miroku who shrugged "Just tell him." Inuyasha took another deep breath, there was no way to explain what was going to sound like madness "We need you to save your daughter, who's been taken over by a demon god and in the future." Adriel moved swiftly, dropping Inuysha's sword and a beam of light in the shape of a jagged dagger emerged from his hand, he pulled Inuyasha's head back and pulled the light closer to Inuyasha's throat. "I'm telling the truth! Your daughter needs your help!" Adriel began to laugh, he pulled the light closer to Inuyasha skin, it burnt through the skin and caused small amounts of blood to spill. Adriel looked again at Inuyasha and smiled, he very quietly whispered "Sit" and just like so many times in the past Inuyasha was pulled downwards, face first into the floor. Chuckling to himself he sat opposite Inuyasha and Miroku again. "Impossible, angels do not have offspring. But I do not sense any indication that you are lying to me demon." He sat rubbing his chin, Inuyasha had sat himself back upright muttering quietly, he rubbed his neck. It wasn't bad and would heal quickly but it was still unpleasant. "I've met you before, in the future. You died saving me…." Adriel looked disgusted to hear those words, the very suggestion that an angel would die to save a demon. He scrunched his face up "And pray tell demon, how did you get into the future." "Your daughter, was forced to pass through the passage way and she came here. Please Adriel I know it sounds mad but you are needed in the future, there are no more angels to fight the war that's coming and the god of demons was forced to merge with your daughter and .." Adriel held his hand up to Inuyasha's face, he closed his eyes and it was clear he was taking the information in bit by bit. "daughter.." he looked at Inuyasha again, "Explain to me how. I've witnessed an angel breaking the law before. The child died a violent death early, so did the mother." Inuyasha nodded in agreement "You were captured, forced to do this to many innocent women. They all died, the children died. In the future there is more… cures for things we don't have now. One woman survived long enough for the baby to survive. But the mother was ripped apart by the baby. She's half angel half human, she's great though her name is K" Adriel cut in with a harshness in his voice "I care not for this abomination, this mistake that should never have been created." He swiftly stood, pacing back and forth, he rubbed his chin and his frustration growing ever more present with every stride. With no warning his wings shot out and he'd gone.

Miroku glanced at Inuyasha and dryly said "Well…I'm glad Kiimi only inherited his eyes not his personality." Inuyasha sighed, "I think we've failed…he doesn't care."

They were wrong about one thing, if Adriel didn't care for Kiimi he still cared for the world he was fighting to protect.

He'd come to find the passageway to Kiimi's era, he stood staring at the well, his arms crossed. He was a statue, his features were hard as stone and his muscles were taught with frustration. He knew to go through would affect him but he needed to see if what the demon said was true. He'd never broken the angel laws before but if it was true there were no more angels left then the world was seriously in danger. He growled under his breath, "a daughter..no she's not mine. If the abomination is a threat she will have to be killed." His shoulders slumped ever so slightly, he wasn't even aware they had slumped.

He passed into the passageway, he searched the darkness for conversations that have already been and gone, he felt a familiar presence. He felt his future self passing through once before. He listened quietly. He listened to a conversation that was already gone, one between Inuyasha and his future self. He cursed to himself. He tried to get a glimpse of the future for this world, it was rare but more powerful angels were able to do it. There was almost nothing, even worse than not able to see anything, he got an overwhelming feeling of dread, stench of death and a mark of the demon. He had not wanted to land on the otherside of the passage but it was unavoidable he needed to check something. He come through, but remained at the bottom on the well. He sat cross legged and closed his eyes, he inhaled deeply and spoke quietly. He was trying to reach out to any of his brothers and sisters, his call was met with silence. It was like no one else being on the other end of the phone, the world was in danger. He inhaled, breathing in the air from this world and what he feared had come to pass. Demons were starting to breed. The air felt dirty to him, it was faint but he could smell it, the odour of foul demon blood. Past that smell he could also sense Kiimi, or rather the demon that had taken control of her body. He mouthed the demon's true name, he dare not say it out-loud. He knew if he spoke the name it would get the demon's attention. He shook his head in despair, knowing he could not take the demon down on his own, not in this era. He passed back through the passage, he pulled himself out of the well. He sat down and allowed himself to slump against it, Inuyasha made his way through the clearing. Adriel had his head in his hands, his eyes were shut tight. Inuyasha approached the angel cautiously, he had a flash back from when Adriel had sat there before, when he died in that very spot. Inuyasha stopped infront of him and knelt infront of him. "So, I find myself helping a demon in two lifetimes then." Inuyasha laughed quietly "You could call me by my actual name you know, we were sort of friends" Adriel laughed, stood himself up and placed a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder "we're not at that point yet demon."

New Blood

Kiimi was keeping the defect in the collar a secret, she'd resigned herself to having emotions that belonged to the real Kiimi and she was happily going to ignore them. She'd been acting for a while now just to keep Arnun happy but every assignment he sent her on she stretched her abilities a bit further. She grinned every time he called her name, each time he was signing his own death warrant. As soon as she was free, she would cause him damage.

Arnun had brought Kiimi to a small town, it was rural, it was quiet and it was now Kiimi's feeding ground. Arnun looked at Kiimi and ordered "Leave no one standing." He turned and started to walk away, "return to me when you're finished." And he left.

Kiimi smiled, she cracked her knuckles and flexed her arms and walked towards the village. She laughed "Stupid fool got complacent and lazy, his order was vague." Kiimi went to the first house, she found a strong man, she grabbed him by the neck and allowed her demon blood to over run her veins, welcoming that rush through her system. She felt her skin harden, her claws sharpen into the mans throat, her eyes clouded over and her teeth finally jutted out of the gums into sharp points. She looked at the man who was thrashing against her, it was pointless to struggle. She pulled her head back and whipped her face into the man's neck, she felt his blood pulse into her mouth. She was almost over come by the excitement and thrill of what was happening, she revelled at the warmth of the blood, the iron taste and the sound of the man choking on his own blood was almost too much for Kiimi to take. She had to pull it together if she wanted to carry out her plan. Before he had lost too much blood Kiimi bit her finger and pushed her finger into the man's throat until it connected with bone. She pushed her finger against the bone in the neck, a demon mark had transferred from the blood and left an insignia upon the man. She brought him closer and whispered some words in a demon language, "Upir. Reproduce, feed, kill then repeat" before her eyes the man started to change, his eyes clouding over, his teeth changing. There was nothing romantic about the vampire that she had been created, the man had been transformed into something savage, prehistoric looking and deadly. His human teeth fell out one by one, blood covered every inch of the floor, what grew instead of human teeth showed no similarities to the vampire in books. They were not pincer like teeth, they were each sharp like broken glass.

Kiimi repeated this on many of the townspeople, each one received a different curse some received the Werewolf curse, the women she turned into Succubi, children into goblins, animals into gargoyles. She walked through the town, smiling to herself, the collar had broken entirely now.

Kiimi sent her demons away to infect the land. She returned to her captor, she walked up to Arnun. Haru was in the room, she barely looked at him. He didn't register on her list to kill, perhaps she would kill him if she were hungry or bored. She approached Arnun, blood smeared her face, dried blood under her nails. She had discarded the collar. Arnun turned to face her, not even realising the missing item. "Good, I see you got your fill! We're going to take another village tomorrow go rest." Kiimi didn't move from the spot she stood on, she lifted her hand to her mouth and licked the blood from her hands. He realised too late, "SHI…" she reached forward placing a hand on the back of his neck and one at the side of his head. She broke his neck, in one snap, his face was pointing an entirely different direction. "I told you, I wanted you to see me coming. Stupid human trying to keep a god as a pet." She felt the familiar pang of guilt pulling inside of her "don't u dare come out of your box my little friend" Kiimi looked at Haru who was huddled into the corner of the room, her blood lust had risen, and she was hungry.

The real Kiimi had stayed quiet through the brutality of what happened in the village, she'd saved energy, harnessed any remaining angel stamina she had remaining. She knew she could accidently connect to Inuyasha, she wasn't sure how it was happening but when it was successful she felt him on the other end of her thoughts, almost like two people holding a piece of rope and pulling it tight when she connected. She willed herself to be heard by Haru. "Convince her to find her 11 soldiers. They're her children. They are her special soldiers of hell." It was all she had strength to say before the demon put her back in her box. Haru heard it perfectly though. "Stop!" he pleaded, holding his hands up to stall the demon, "How can you rule this world without your special soldiers, your originals." She grunted "How do you know about that?" Haru was making the information up as he talked, he had no idea what he would say next. "We did our research, they were special to you weren't they ? there are legends that they're like your children?" She gleamed "I've remade new ones." He had to think quickly "nothing replaces your first borns though…right?"

Something Haru said must have struck a nerve, whether it was the human side of Kiimi, some hidden maternal instinct that even the demon didn't recognise but it had worked. She leant forward, he almost gagged on the smell of her breath, stagnant blood on her breath, she tapped his forehead and sweetly said "When I get back I'm going to make you into something special." She made her journey back to the well to pass through time. She was going to bring her 11 soldiers to this era, she would bring her family with her. Haru stayed in the room, staring at Arnun. Arnun's eyes didn't get a chance to close so the fear still registered in them, his mouth slightly ajar. Haru knew he got what he had coming to him but he had no idea what would happen next, he knew the project would be shut down but what was instore for human kind. "What have we done to ourselves…"

Time to Die

Adriel, Miroku and Inuyasha had returned to the demolished village. They sat near Kaede's grave and talked deep into the night. Strategies were being considered, but each one came to the same conclusion, they needed more help. It would take more than the 3 of them. "The other Adriel said that you shut the demon down using some spell." Adriel nodded, "We did and it took a lot of us, as soon as my brethren discovered that she is my daughter they will have no part to play in it." Miroku was shocked "but what of the outcome? They will not assist even considering what the outcome could be?" Adriel shook his head in despair "They will not break our laws and go to this other time period." Inuyasha had been silent for a long time, mindlessly playing with the necklace he wore round his neck. He knew the answer had to be this ritual, "What about the Priestesses? The other Adriel mentioned they were weak versions of you guys?" Adriel scoffed, "you dare insult me? They are not angels. They are not weak angels, they are humans. We bestowed a tiny fragment of power to them." Inuyasha replied "but it might be worth using them?" "But to what end? We are here and Kiimi is not. Have you learnt nothing from Kagome's death? We cannot transplant humans into a world they do not belong. Demon or angel is fine but humans are bound by their own times." The answer to the problem would not be found that night, they each bedded down.

Kiimi pulled herself through the well, she had a mission to complete. Find her 11 soldiers, she had a mission ahead of her due to being sealed inside within a hill for so many lifetimes. Her children had been left unsupervised for so long, and she felt nothing but pride as she filled her lungs and could feel the demon descendants in the air. She set off to find her children.

Adriel awoke with a shock, he breathed in and muttered "Demon" Inuyasha awoke with a fright and reached for his sword "What? Where? Who?...huh? I don't see anything" Miroku was still sound asleep. Adriel walked to where Miroku was sleeping and kicked him hard "We need to find your priestesses. This is our chance, the demon walks in this world." They gathered their belongings and started to travel separately to the villages nearby gathering as many priestesses as they could find. Traveling alone, Inuyasha had time to reflect on everything. He hadn't seen Kiimi for so long, how far had the demon infected Kiimi's soul, he wasn't even sure if there would be anything to save. He had to try.

After a few days of travelling and gathering as many priestesses as they could find they met back at a neighbouring village. They did not want to be too close to the well. They settled into the village, Adriel looked at their meagre army, they were young women. He could sense their power but he despaired at them, they were young and inexperienced women. They managed to gather 15 priestesses, Adriel knew it would not be enough but they had to try. Adriel had sent Inuyasha into the village, they had asked the village to use their leathers to craft them drums for the ritual, Inuyasha was bringing them to the nearby field.

Adriel led the group to the field, "You will each stand by a drum, you will play them" he was interrupted by a young girl with white hair "how do we know what to play?" Adriel clearly annoyed by the interruption, he was not accustomed to dealing with humans as much as this, he was a soldier not a conversationalist. "Once Miroku begins the incantations the spell will take over, you will not fight it. Let it wash over you and dominate you. If you fight this we will fail." Inuyasha stood in the centre with Adriel, "Inuyasha, you must beat Kiimi down, belittle her, hurt her, you must tear flesh from her. This will only work if she is frightened, once she is frightened we will seal her quickly. I need to know now if you will not be able to do this. I know you are special to each other." Inuyasha shook his head "I need to save her. I will do this." Adriel closed the distance between them "you realise we are shutting her down right? She will sleep? And if I see an opportunity to kill the demon I will take it, even if it means killing Kiimi. If we are successful and she sleeps it will be until we can figure out how to separate the two? I have no idea what the outcome of this will be. I don't know if we can even do this." Inuyasha closed his eyes tight "I can't think about that, I can only focus on saving her." Adriel could see this was hard for Inuyasha, "Inuyasha, once we start the demon will do anything to free itself from the spell. It will use dirty tricks, it may even let Kiimi take control if it means getting closer to me and you. The spell will also cause the demon to go into full fighting mode. It will not be like before when you two scrapped together. It will not be throwing punches, if the demon uses Angel flame you will die." Inuyasha nodded "I know."

They used the next day to prepare themselves, Adriel had not explained to them the chances of success. He knew they were lambs to the slaughter. He looked at Inuyasha, he couldn't figure this demon out, he clung to the sword that suppressed his true nature desperate to maintain his goodness, to protect his friends and his family. Adriel looked down at his own hands, he will willing to kill his own daughter to perform his duty. He reminded himself what was at stake, he reminded himself that she was not strictly his daughter, she was an abomination and should not exist. The day went fast, as the sun set they gathered in the field ready for the battle ahead.

The Priestesses gathered, their drums were hidden in the field elsewhere, Miroku stood with them. Inuyasha and Adriel had placed themselves within the middle of the gathering. Inuyaha looked at Adriel confused "hold on a second, if I'm fighting Kiimi what are you doing?" Adriel chuckled at how naïve Inuyasha had been "You think she will let herself be put to sleep twice? You believe she will not bring her army?" Inuyasha replied "Oh…I see" The priestesses disappeared from sight.

Adriel left the field and headed back to the village briefly and returned dragging a beaten body of a creature that was bruised beyond recognition. Adriel nodded and spoke loudly "Good luck everyone, once I remove this cloaking talisman Kiimi will be drawn to her soldier. The moment you see her start the drums, Miroku you start the chanting." There was no further warning, he pulled the talisman from the creature, he let the demon scream for its master. Adriel said as loud as he could "ASMODEOUS ! I HAVE ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN HERE! ASMODEOUS !" And that's all it took to lure the demon in.

(I WROTE THIS WHILST LISTENING TO SLIPKNOT – NO LIFE. IF YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE RIGHT PACE OF THIS FIGHT SCENE VISIT youtube)

The priestesses run forward with their drums, Miroku placed himself within the circle. The women played the drums, energy began to flow from one to the other. Slow beats, quicker and then slower again. Miroku began chanting, when something incredible happened. Adriel heard the drums became more fierce, they doubled in power. Inuyasha looked at the priestesses playing, their heads had been thrown back, their eyes were scratched out and they were no longer in control of playing their drums, something else had taken over. Angels now stood between each of them doubling their efforts. Inuyasha looked for Miroku, a female angel stood behind him, her enormous wings wrapped around him, but she had her hands placed on the sides of his head, her lips were moving and passing the incantations through Miroku. A loud scream brought his attention back to Kiimi, chains had come from the ground, wrapped themselves round Kiimi's neck pulling her down to the floor. Adriel nodded at Inuyasha, "it's your turn, ignore the screaming, ignore everything else. Intimidate Kiimi"

Inuyasha walked and faced Kiimi, she looked up at him and spat in his face "Filthy mutt, I'm going to kill you for this…I'll let dear Kiimi see you just before I kill you of course" Inuyasha had no idea how to scare her, Adriel came infront of him and smacked the demon across the face "DEMON you are mine! you will bow to me and you will go back to your hell." Kiimi pulled the chains, one arm came free she punched her hand into the ground. "What is she doing Adriel?" "She's calling her army."

Demons entered the circle in their hoards. Her so called children. They were not focussing on Adriel or Inuyasha, rather they focussed their assaults on the priestesses and miroku. Inuyasha turned to see the assault, "They are not reacting? Why are they not reacting?!" Adriel hadn't told anyone what this spell truly meant, "they're not in control, this is a do or die spell Inuyasha…this can only win or fail I'm afraid there is no retreating." Adriel started to pull demons from the priestesses, Inuyasha turned to look at Miroku to see a demon had taken a mouthful of flesh from his arm, he tried to make his way to rescue his friend. Kiimi stood in his pathway, they swiped at each other and used claws against each other. Inuyasha threw Kiimi across the floor, Kiimi stood "Oh no…please don't hurt me….my uncle beat me…no one loves me….waa… ! I'M THE BEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO HER! I MADE HER STRONG!"

Adriel was struggling to keep the demons at bay, he was losing priestesses. Each priestess he lost the angel beside her disappeared, they were failing.

He looked at Inuyasha, "Dammit he wasn't ready to fight her"

Kiimi saw they were winning, she started to throw angel flame at Inuyasha, each one just missing him as he ducked and dived. Inuyasha pulled his sword above his head bringing it down hard against the floor sending shock waves at the demon. When he looked up he saw Kiimi lying on the floor, blood pooled around her, he walked up to her and saw her blue eyes and his walk turned into a run. All he could think about was the fact that he'd spilt his friends blood, he had forgotten Adriel's warning about the tricks the demon would use. Adriel saw what was about to happen and with a demon in both hands he turned to look at Inuyasha and screamed "STOP!" it was too late Inuyasha had played straight into the demon's sick joke. Kiimi coughed blood, her blue eyes looked at Inuyasha. It was that instant he knew what was happening, if he got any closer the demon would take control back. He only knew he couldn't scare the demon but he knew how to scare Kiimi, he discarded his sword and welcomed the demon DNA into his blood. He felt it surge through him, his eyes turned purple, his teeth became dog like he looked at Kiimi and no longer saw a friend. All he saw before him was delicious angel meat. Kiimi looked at Inuyasha and cried "Oh no… I didn't want this….I never wanted you to lose yourself…"

The demon army stopped attacking, they fled into the woodland. Some literally disappeared, some flew away and some ran…but they had all gone. Adriel approached Kiimi, he looked at Inuyasha and retrieved his sword and put it back in his hands. Slowly Inuyasha returned to his senses. The remaining Priestesses fell to the floor. They approached Kiimi, her eyes had glazed over. She sat in silence kneeling infront of them. Adriel sighed "She's locked in human form, her wings aren't out. I'm sorry this is my chance" There was no warning, he punched through her rib cage, Inuyasha heard her ribs crack and break. "what are you doing?!" Inuyasha pulled at Adriel's clothes, desperately trying to separate him from Kiimi, "You're going to kill her!" Adriel swatted him away like a fly. "I still have a job to do! But I'm trying to get the demon out…I can feel it..here somewhere…" he moved his hand around her rib cage, and felt the sludge that surrounded her heart. He gripped onto it and pulled it out of her chest, it fought back but he kept pulling. Eventually he pulled the sludge free from her body, a voice entered their brains "Well this has been fun…" and Asmodeous opened the Gate of Gehenna and passed through.

Kiimi's body fell limply to the floor, Inuyasha crouched infront of her, Adriel stood with his back to them both. "My job is done, Asmodeous is back in the hell dimension where it belongs." "her..her angel markings..? where are they ? why isn't she healing?" Adriel couldn't but feel bad for Inuyasha, "She still has the demon mark inside her, I couldn't remove it. Right now even in her shut down state her body is fighting over her. I don't know what will happen. It's best if the wound I gave her kills her." Inuyasha and Adriel started to argue, pushing each other back and forth. Neither were aware of small amounts of marking sowing the hole up in her chest. Kiimi could hear them argue, she hadn't felt like this for so long, she felt human. The spell has shut Kiimi down entirely, the angel DNA had healed her but that was all, she was human.

She still couldn't move. She remained on the floor, watching them fight and argue. She could feel her body hurting, everything hurt. She could feel her body dying around her. "Oh god I'm human in the wrong era" she thought to herself. She needed just enough strength for one word, "Dad..dy."

Adriel glanced down, he was in complete disbelief that despite survival everything so far, despite having her angel DNA sealed, despite being under the controlling spell she still managed to call out to him. He looked at her, there was blood forming round her eyes, coming from her nose and ears, her hair line had started to bleed and her finger nails were coming lose and bleeding through. He realised she was now human, the spell hadn't just sealed her angel DNA but it had stripped it back and she was dying. Adriel never thought he would hear someone call him dad, he'd never wanted to hear it but upon hearing it now he knew what to do. He picked Kiimi up in his arms, and sighed as he grabbed Inuyasha and raced towards the passage. He jumped through. He ran into the house, Haru stood in the kitchen drinking his whiskey.

Kiimi lay in a coma for months, every day Inuyasha would sit with her and would talk to her. He would beg for her to wake up. Adriel would sit with her and tell her about his day, he was still not very maternal but he was learning. He was still shocked that he couldn't let her die.

In the time that Kiimi slept Inuyasha and Adriel had made a home in Haru's house. They were tackling the new demon plague that was spreading across the world.

Adriel entered Kiimi's room after a long day of fighting, he placed his hand on top of hers and willed her to wake up. He wasn't keen on touching her, he was aware Asmodeous had left a mark on her heart that even he couldn't erase, he could sense the demon mark and was reminded that he couldn't remove it. As much as he willed her to wake up, he feared what would wake up. Would he be forced to kill her all over again.

Each passing day Adriel could feel her angel presence coming back to her, mending wounds inside her body that science couldn't see. Adriel let his hand drop from Kiimi's as he stood he glanced back and saw her eyes open. One black eye, one white eye.

"I'm hungry Daddy."


	18. The end

So in summary !

kiimi ended up part demon, part Angel and a little bit human.

The three of them now live in the present era with haru. They work hard to eradicate the new line of demons created by asmodeous.

Inuyasha had to give up his friends in the feudal era to stay with Kiimi.

Admodeous in back in its home back in the past.

In the present era asmodeous is still dead.

Kiimi has awoken with what adriel feared, she's partial demon. Seems to be some demon hunger going on, but to what extent?

There was intentionally no romance in my story, I prefer the bond of friendship.

I you enjoyed it

:)


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